Blue mosque, Istanbul

There are very few places on this planet which provides a unique architecture, history and spirituality at the same place. Blue mosque is one of those places. From outside you can’t stop admiring the size and majesty of its structure until you step into the courtyard which is as big as the mosque itself, but the true realization of its grandness happens as soon as you step inside the mosque that is adorned by the blue tiles, from which it gets its western name – Blue mosque. It is considered as the last great mosque of the classical period and it always will be.

Naturally the place ranks at top in any guide book on Istanbul, so it often gets crowded with thousands of tourists that visit the mosque everyday. This is one of the occasions when I really feel the power of the politicians of the world when the mosque is vacated for their visit. You can’t get luckier than that. Since I didn’t have the power I tried creating my own luck and visited the mosque at 6am even though the hotel concierge said that the mosque opens at 9am. I couldn’t believe that the mosque opens that late as there must be people offering prayers much earlier than that so I tried to use my bit of intelligence and luck; and I was truly rewarded with the peace and serenity inside the mosque.

Certain things in life are to be enjoyed in sheer silence to feel the space and moment like the blue mosque.  

You sit there in silence and you can feel the power

You sit there and you can’t stop admiring the sheer beauty of the dome, the minarets, and the myriad number of designs on the beautiful blue tiles

You sit there and you flee away from your darkest fears

You sit there and you want to pray, to believe in God

You sit there and you want to embrace life and for all that it symbolizes

You sit there and you just want to sit there forever

It is truly a remarkable place. The only other place where I felt the same was at the Lotus Temple in India.

An interesting bit of history is the mosque was built by its leader without any symbolic victory and just out of public funds which lead to controversy and criticism by the Ottoman population. If the ottoman population could only see how public funds are used in modern era to save disgraced banks and companies they would have praised their leaders for at least creating something symbolic that would be admired for centuries to come.

I think the Blue Mosque is everything and lot more than what I expect from a symbolic structure like it.