Blue Mosque in Istanbul reopens to the public after 5 years

After 5 years of the largest restoration in its history, the famous Blue Mosque, one of the main monuments of Istanbul, reopened its doors yesterday Friday to the faithful and to tourist visits, coinciding with the start of the 3 holidays for the end of the Ramadan. During the opening ceremony, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan described the so-called Blue Mosque (real name Sultanamet Camii, or Sultanahmet Mosque) as “one of the most important symbols of Istanbul.” Built in front of Hagia Sophia in 1617 and commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan Ahmet I, this mosque gets its nickname precisely because of the more than 21,000 blue tiles – handcrafted in İznik and Kütahya – with which it is decorated.

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