Grand Çamlıca Mosque

History

The Grand Çamlıca Mosque is the largest mosque in Turkey, built on Çamlıca Hill on the Asian side of Istanbul. The concept and competition date back to around 2000; construction began in 2013. The mosque opened for worship on 7 March 2019, with the official inauguration in early May 2019. Its design was created by two women architects, Bahar Mızrak and Hayriye Gül Totu — a rarity in the field. In its first two years the mosque drew about 12 million visitors. It is not a historical monument but a modern building that deliberately continues the classical Ottoman tradition.

Architecture

The mosque is a modern synthesis of classical Ottoman architecture in the spirit of Sinan's legacy: a reinforced-concrete frame clad in white Anatolian marble, with İznik tiles. The central dome is 34 metres in diameter and 72 metres high, and the complex carries some 70 domes and half-domes in all. Six minarets symbolize the six articles of faith; four of them, 107.1 metres tall, allude to the 1071 Battle of Manzikert. Beneath the mosque is a whole complex: a museum of Islamic civilizations, an art gallery, a library, a conference hall, workshops, and a large underground car park. The building crowns the city's highest point and opens onto a panorama of the Bosphorus.

Facts

• The largest mosque in Turkey, with an area of about 57,500 m². en.wikipedia.org
• Holds about 63,000 worshippers, of whom around 25,000 can pray inside the building at once. dailysabah.com
• The central dome is 34 m in diameter and 72 m high; the complex carries about 70 domes in all. en.wikipedia.org
• Six minarets symbolize the six articles of faith; four of them, 107.1 m tall, allude to the 1071 Battle of Manzikert. en.wikipedia.org
• The design was created by two women architects — Bahar Mızrak and Hayriye Gül Totu. hurriyetdailynews.com

Photographs

Sources

• en.wikipedia.org
• dailysabah.com
• hurriyetdailynews.com
• commons.wikimedia.org
• Google Maps