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The cascading domes and
four slender minarets of the Imperial Suleymaniye Mosque dominate
the skyline on the Golden Horn's west bank. Considered the most
beautiful of all imperial mosques in Istanbul, it was built between
1550 and 1557 by Sinan, the renowned architect of the Ottoman
Empire's golden age.
Erected on the crest of a hill, the building is conspicuous for its
great size, emphasized by the four minarets that rise from each
comer of the courtyard. Inside are the mihrab (prayer niche showing
the direction to Mecca) and the mimber (pulpit) made of finely
carved white marble and exquisite stained-glass windows coloring the
incoming streams of light. It was in the gardens of this complex
that Suleyman and his wife, Hurrem Sultan (Roxelane), had their
mausolea built, and near here also Sinan built his own tomb. The
mosque complex also includes four medreses, or theological schools,
a school of medicine, a caravanserai, a Turkish bath, and a kitchen
and hospice for the poor.
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