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Rüstem Pasha Mosque

Rüstem Pasha Mosque

Mimar Sinan

Photo: User:Simm · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Istanbul, Turkey
Client / Owner
Rüstem Pasha
Year
Completed 1563
Access
Public
Typology
Spiritual
Style
Islamic

Mimar Sinan designed the mosque for Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha, who was married to Mihrimah Sultan, daughter of Suleiman I. Suleiman authorized the project in 1562, after Rüstem died in 1561. The infobox gives groundbreaking in 1561 and completion in 1563, and recent analysis suggests it was operating by late 1563.

It stands in Tahtakale, near the Spice Bazaar, on a high terrace above vaulted shops whose rents funded the complex. The article describes the plan as an octagon inscribed in a rectangle, with the dome resting on four semi-domes set on the diagonals. A double porch has five domed bays, and the ablution kiosk is at street level. It has one minaret and is built of granite and marble.

About 2,300 İznik tiles in roughly 80 patterns cover the interior and porch, unusual for Sinan. Michael Willis dates the tiles to around 1555, and some tiles are 18th-century European ones. The article gives no dimensions.

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