Çamlıca Mosque
— — six minarets above the city that two continents share.
Not only on a wall.
“Büyük Çamlıca Camii rises from the green crown of Çamlıca Hill, on the Üsküdar side of the Bosphorus, the tallest point in Istanbul. It opened in 2019 — the largest mosque the Republic of Turkey has built. Six minarets, a central dome of seventy-two metres, calligraphy by living masters along the inner ring. From the courtyard the city unfolds on both sides of the strait: Sultanahmet's domes to the west, the bridges to the north, container ships drawing slow lines through the middle. Locals come for the view as much as the prayer. from the studio
Çamlıca Mosque, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Büyük Çamlıca Camii, the Grand Çamlıca Mosque, stands on Büyük Çamlıca Hill in the Üsküdar district on the Asian side of Istanbul, at roughly 268 metres above sea level — the highest natural point inside the city. Construction began in 2013 and the mosque opened for worship in March 2019. The complex covers about fifteen hectares and was designed by architects Hayriye Gül Totu and Bahar Mızrak. The central dome rises 72 metres above the prayer floor and spans 34 metres; six minarets ring the building, the four tallest standing 107.1 metres in reference to the year 1071 and the Battle of Manzikert.
The exterior reads as classical late-Ottoman, in the line that runs from Sinan through the imperial mosques, but the construction is modern reinforced concrete clad in marble and Marmara stone. The mihrab is carved from Afyon marble. Calligraphy bands inside the main hall were written by contemporary Turkish hattatlar, including names from the Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture. The chandelier at the centre of the dome is hand-blown Turkish glass with sixteen tonnes of fittings, suspended above a prayer hall designed to hold around 63,000 worshippers across all levels — among the largest in the country.
The mosque is open daily outside of the five daily prayer windows; non-Muslim visitors are welcome between prayers, with shoes removed at the entrance and shoulders and knees covered. Headscarves are available at the door for women. There is no admission fee. The site is reached from Üsküdar by city bus or a short taxi up the hill; the Marmaray rail tunnel from the European side terminates at Üsküdar, about twenty minutes from Sultanahmet. The terrace café outside the lower wall is one of the most photographed viewpoints in Istanbul, especially around sunset, when the call to prayer crosses the water.