The Blue Mosque

Main Entry to Courtyard of Blue Mosque

Within the Courtyard there is a central waterFountain

Preparing to enter: photo by Arda

Arda and I prepared to walk into The Blue Mosque by covering our head and hair with shawls. We did this in the plain entry Courtyard. The Courtyard was spacious (the same size as the Mosque’s interior) and soothing; lined with colonnades on all sides with special carved stone wall niches and incorporating a very small amount of color.

and then Inside

Dome Above

Paint work and Iznik tiling with stone work

Spatial layering: surface, form, light and shade

I found the interior of The Blue Mosque overwhelming. Their was pattern in so many forms, materials, scales and surfaces. I could hear ‘visual sound’ all around emitted from every surface!

Pattern, colour and texture everywhere

There was painted pattern within the decorated domes above and thousands of Iznik tiles covering the walls, vaults and columns, and highly geometric ironwork and wooden inlay doors.

Entry Courtyard Relief: Straightened

Colonnade: Straightened

It was a relief to return to the simplicity of the Courtyard.

Courtyard entry way

I know this photo is lopsided! I did not correct it like I did the other ones. All of the photos I took once I left the interior of the Blue Mosque were off-line or askew! I was quite affected by the experience.

 

• architecture
• connecting
• turkey