Mehmed II ordered the original mosque, built from 1463 to 1470 on the site of the Church of the Holy Apostles and attributed to Atik Sinan. The complex was almost square, about 1,066 feet (325 m) on a side, and held eight medreses, a library, a hospital.
Earthquakes damaged the mosque in 1509, 1557 and 1754. The May 22, 1766 earthquake brought down the main dome, though the article also says it only seriously damaged the mosque. Sultan Mustafa III commissioned the current building from Mehmet Tahir Ağa, built from 1767 to 1771 on a square plan with one central dome and four semi-domes. The dome is 85 feet (26 m) across. Only the courtyard, the main portal and the lower minarets survive from the original.
The tombs of Mehmed II and Nakşidil Sultan stand beside it. The complex was restored in 2009 and again about ten years later, and reopened to worshippers in 2021.
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