Nuruosmaniye Mosque

Overview

Leave the Grand Bazaar by the Nuruosmaniye Gate, and the busy lanes open onto a leafy courtyard. Instead of the straight lines of older mosques, the walls here curve in a graceful arc, and above them rises a vast, smooth dome. At first, it feels almost European. This is the Nuruosmaniye Mosque, the first great baroque building of Ottoman Istanbul. With a guide, join our Ottoman Baroque tour in Istanbul.

The Nuruosmaniye Mosque at the Grand Bazaar

To begin with, the mosque stands on the second hill of the old city, in the Çemberlitaş neighborhood, close to the old Forum of Constantine. The Grand Bazaar, in turn, wraps around it, and one of the bazaar’s main gates, the Nuruosmaniye Gate, is named after it. Since 2016, it has also been on Turkey’s tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage.

History of the Nuruosmaniye Mosque

A sultan’s mosque after a century

Sultan Mahmud I began the mosque in 1748, and his brother Osman III finished it in 1755. Its name, Nuruosmaniye, means the Light of Osman: it honors the Ottoman dynasty and Sultan Osman III himself. It was also the first imperial mosque built in Istanbul since the Blue Mosque, more than a century earlier.

A master builder and a new style

The master builder Simeon Kalfa raised it, under the building superintendent Ahmed Efendi. His assistant, Kozma, and most of the stonemasons were also Christians, and at the opening ceremony both men received robes of honor. With this mosque, the Ottoman baroque, which mixed curves and ornament from Europe into Ottoman forms, reached a sultan’s mosque.

What to See at the Nuruosmaniye Mosque

The curved courtyard

First, notice the courtyard. Instead of the usual rectangle, its arcade bends in a curve, a baroque idea new to Istanbul at the time.

The great dome

Next, step inside. A single dome, 25.5 meters (84 feet) wide, covers the whole prayer hall. Four great arches, pierced by many windows, carry it and flood the hall with light, while iron bracing hidden in the walls helps hold it together.

The Complex Around the Courtyard

The mosque is the heart of a full complex. A wide outer courtyard with two gates holds a madrasa, a soup kitchen, a library, a tomb, a timekeeper’s room, a sebil and a fountain, with shops and a han around them. The inner courtyard rests on 12 columns in a half-circle under 14 small domes. Inside, 174 windows in five rows light the prayer hall, and a band of the Fetih sura runs where the dome arches meet the walls.

How to Visit the Nuruosmaniye Mosque

In general, the mosque stands right beside the Grand Bazaar, a few minutes from the Çemberlitaş tram stop. No ticket is needed, but avoid prayer times and dress modestly.

We pass Nuruosmaniye on our walks through the Grand Bazaar. Nearby, see the Column of Constantine and the Bayezid II Mosque, and for the classical style it broke away from, the Süleymaniye Mosque. For the next Baroque step, walk west to the Laleli Mosque of Mustafa III.