Guide
The mosque was built on the order of Süleyman the Lawgiver by Sadık Kalfa. Its inscription, written in sülüs, is a quatrain recording that the sultan ordered it built. Construction began in 1522 and is known to have been finished in 1558; why it took so long is not known.
The plan is square, with one full dome at the centre and a half dome on each of its four sides, all resting on arches between four piers and the walls. The walls and the minaret are cut stone and the domes are sheeted in lead.
Inside, the decoration is rococo with examples of calligraphy set between. The mihrab is worked with muqarnas and is rich in appearance; the minbar is stone. The preacher's chair has an angular base and a round body. The door jambs are marble, their arches brought forward as fluted consoles around the keystone. The porch for latecomers is covered by three domes on four columns, with muqarnas mihrab niches on either side.
The mosque stands in the Mimar Sinan quarter of the central district and was restored by the Directorate General of Foundations in 1992 and again in 2015.
