Details Outside the Sultan Ahmed Mosque

Whenever I see photos of mosques in Türkiye, I would be impressed with the elegance of the design. In particular, how it almost looks like a mountain. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, is a great example of this Ottoman mosque architecture. The central dome is surrounded by multiple smaller domes that in turn may have small domes of their own. This gives the appearance of a mountain which might actually be the intention. The main building is then surrounded by minarets. In the case of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, it has six minarets.

The courtyard here is surprisingly bare, almost as if it is deferring to the grandeur of the mosque behind it. It was very hot that afternoon, so I did not foresee myself walking across the courtyard to access the mosque. For that, there is the covered walkway which goes around the courtyard. It is a godsend in this heat. I can see that people think the same way. I see people just lying down enjoying a cool breeze coming from one side of the mosque. Looking at this, I was surprised at how seemingly lax it is here. I came here under the impression that behavior would be strictly enforced here but it doesn’t seem to be the case. You can even see kids just running around here. Of course, you still can’t do obviously anti-social things here but it was eye-opening to see how tolerant society is here.

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