Fatih Mosque

About this place

The Fatih Mosque is one of Istanbul's most important imperial mosques, in the Fatih district of the old city, named after Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, who took Constantinople in 1453. People come to pray and to visit the sultan's tomb behind the mosque. It is full of neighbourhood life and sees far fewer tourists than the city's better-known mosques. The first mosque went up between 1463 and 1470 on the site of the Byzantine Church of the Holy Apostles, ringed by a vast complex of eight madrasas, a library, hospital, market, bathhouse and kitchen for the poor. An earthquake in 1766 brought down its dome, and Sultan Mustafa III had it rebuilt between 1767 and 1771 by the architect Mehmet Tahir Ağa to a different plan. It has been restored twice this century and returned to worshippers in 2021. The courtyard, main portal, mihrab and lower minarets survive from the original. The central dome spans 26 m on four semi-domes, and the calligraphy and minbar show a Baroque touch. Behind the qibla wall, the graveyard holds the tombs of Mehmed II and his consort Gülbahar Hatun, both rebuilt after the earthquake. On either side stand the Sahn-ı Seman madrasas, once home to about a thousand students. The mosque is 1.3 km from the Süleymaniye Mosque and 1.6 km from Chora in a straight line. The Wednesday street market spills around it on its day. Keep shoulders and knees covered, women cover their hair, remove your shoes, avoid prayer times and Friday midday, and stay quiet at the tomb.