Which Istanbul mosque, completed in 1616, is popularly called the Blue Mosque?

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, completed in 1616, is popularly called the Blue Mosque.

Sultan Ahmed I commissioned the mosque, which was designed by the architect Sedefkâr Mehmed Agha, a student of Mimar Sinan’s architectural tradition. It stands opposite Hagia Sophia in Istanbul’s historic peninsula and forms part of a larger külliye containing charitable and educational facilities.

The popular name comes from the thousands of blue İznik tiles used in the interior. The building has a large central dome, cascading smaller domes, and six minarets. Its six-minaret design caused controversy because the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina also had six minarets at the time; a seventh minaret was subsequently added in Medina.

The Blue Mosque is sometimes confused with the Süleymaniye Mosque, another major Istanbul imperial mosque. Süleymaniye was designed by Sinan, whereas Sultan Ahmed Mosque was designed by Sedefkâr Mehmed Agha.