Mehmed the Conqueror required the rich and powerful to take the initiative in the development of homes, market halls, workshops, guesthouses, and baths. When the government of his successor, Bayazid II (1481-1512) took office, the city had several newly developed buildings belonging to the viziers, while the sultan himself, as governor of Amasya, had founded mosque complexes in that city as well as in Manisa and Edirne.

Mehmed had already been ruling on the Bosphorus for 20 years when he commissioned the architect Yaqub Shah ibn Sultan shah to build a Mosque complex in Istanbul, which was erected between 1501 and 1506 on the site of the ancient Forum of Theodosius near the Eski Saray (The Old Palace) which had been founded by Mehmed and towered above the bazaar quarter.

Following the model of Hagia Sophia the half-dome is flanked on the longitudinal axis by two secondary half-domes, which arch over the Mihrab and the entrance. The galleries, like side aisles, give extra breadth to the prayer hall. They are closely connected to the central area through a double arcade with granite columns between the transverse pillars. Having wings at the sides extends the entrance hall and the minarets are built on the outer ends of these wings. This extraordinary length of almost 100 meters (328 feet), which is crossed by the entrance to the domed building, is clearly caused by the rigid geometry of the whole site. So the length of the entrance hall corresponds to the total length of the Mosque and Mosque courtyard, both of which are based on squares of almost equal dimensions.

Clear proportions of space and openness are obviously part of the architect's concepts. The rich decor of the building with its traditional Islamic subjects stands in complete contrast to this clear geometry. There are marble tablets with colorfully encrusted interlace and square Kufic script set into the bases of the minarets, in the arcade arches gray limestone alternates with red sandstone, and the marble rows of pinnacles on the ledges show cloud scroll for­mations. Muqarnas decoration is found both in the vaults over the deep portal niches as well as on the slender minarets, whose balconies are underpinned with circles of consoles. The remarkably precise masonry work is also evident in the marble fittings in the inner room, the large mihrab with a border of Muqarnas and the Minbar (pulpit), which has braid and arabesque decoration on its side walls and on its staircase archway - the Minbar was crafted in marble, accordingly continuing an old Byzantine specialty.

Near the Mausoleums of its founder and his daughter, Sultan Bayazid's complex included a Madrasa, kitchen for the poor, and a bath house. These provided a focal point for that part of the city, which had in the meantime become densely populated. The Madrasa is impressive because of its open plan with a wide, columned courtyard, off which lie the domed rooms for the students opposite the entrance portal the large lecture hall, in which the seyhulislam (Minister of Islamic Issues) the senior judge and reporter on legal matters lectures lived.

Bosphorus is connection between European and Asian Turkey, linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara; The Sea of Marmara is 175 miles (280 km) long and 50 miles (80 km) wide. Istanbul (Constantinople) is located at the entrance of the Bosporus into the Sea of Marmara.

Watch this Panoramic view (with zoom features) of this entire mosque interior - spectacular.