Lonely Planet İstanbul Guide

İstanbul’s Top 10 Süleymaniye Mosque

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Dominating the Old City’s skyline, Süleyman the Magnificent’s most notable architectural legacy certainly lives up to its patron’s name. The fourth imperial mosque built in İstanbul, the Süleymaniye was designed by Mimar Sinan, the most famous of all Ottoman architects, and was built between 1550 and 1557. Its extensive and largely intact külliye (mosque complex) buildings illustrate aspects of daily Ottoman life and are still used by the local community, making this a sight that truly lives up to the tag of ‘living history’.

AIVITA ARIKA/SHUTTERSTOCK ©