Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque (Kadırga)
Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque (Kadırga) is one of the narrated stops on the self-guided Istanbul audio walking tour in Gingerguide. Plan about ~30 min here. Press play at the spot for its two to three minute story, or ask the AI guide anything about it.
- Type religious
- Suggested visit ~30 min
- Istanbul Istanbul guide
About Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque (Kadırga)
A harmonious smaller mosque by the architect Sinan, finished in 1572, prized for its exquisite İznik tiles and fragments said to come from the Kaaba's Black Stone.
The Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque in Kadırga was designed by the imperial architect Mimar Sinan and completed in 1571-72 for the grand vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha and his wife İsmihan Sultan, a daughter of Sultan Selim II and granddaughter of Suleiman the Magnificent. Sinan built it on a compact hexagonal plan covered by a single dome with four small corner semi-domes, and it is widely admired as one of his most harmonious mid-sized mosques. It is reached by a staircase into a raised, arcaded courtyard whose surrounding cells once housed a medrese.
The interior is celebrated for its İznik tiles, worked in blue, turquoise, red and green floral designs with panels of white thuluth calligraphy on a blue ground. By tradition, pieces reported to come from the Kaaba's sacred Black Stone are set into the mosque, including one beneath the minbar's conical cap, though this identification is a traditional belief that cannot be independently verified. The mosque stands in the Kadırga quarter below Sultanahmet, on the slope toward the Sea of Marmara.
Did you know? By tradition, four fragments of the Kaaba's Black Stone are set into the mosque, one beneath the minbar's conical cap, so anyone climbing the pulpit to preach passes beneath a fragment of it.
How long should you spend at Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque (Kadırga)?
Plan about ~30 min at Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque (Kadırga). That is enough to take it in and hear its narrated story; stay longer if it grabs you. The tour is self-guided, so there is no rush.
Is Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque (Kadırga) worth visiting?
Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque (Kadırga) is one of the 40 sights the Gingerguide team researched and narrated in Istanbul, so it earns a place on a self-guided walk. Its story explains why it matters, and you can ask the AI guide anything the story leaves open.
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Hear the story of Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque (Kadırga)
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