New Mosque
The New Mosque (Yeni Cami), in
Istanbul's
Eminonu district on the
Golden Horn at the southern end of
Galata Bridge, is officially the Mosque of the Valide Sultan (Queen Mother) because it was commissioned by Safiye, mother of Sultan Mehmet III in 1597.
After her son died, Safiye was no longer Queen Mother, with a queen's powers and revenues, so her mosque sat unfinished.
Six sultans later, Turhan Hatice, Queen Mother of Sultan Mehmet IV, took up the work and finished it, which is another reason it's called the Vailde Sultan's Mosque.
It is "new" because it was finished after
Istanbul's other great imperial mosques: the Fatih Camii (Mosque of the Conqueror, 1470), Selimiye Camii (1522),
Suleymaniye Camii (Mosque of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, 1557), and the
Sultan Ahmet Camii (Blue Mosque, 1616).
But the construction of New Mosque was begun before the
Blue Mosque,in
Sultanahmet. No doubt many of the workers who toiled on the Valide Sultan Camii were transferred to the
Hippodrome in 1606 to begin work on the
Blue Mosque. The Valide Sultan Camii was then finished by their descendants three generations later.
Inside is a wealth of gold, marble and faience (colored tiles). Be sure to take a look when you're in
Istanbul.
Source: http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com
