Ortaköy Mosque Istanbul - The Village in the Middle

The historic city of Istanbul is teeming with beautiful, intricately designed mosques in antiquity. Ortakoy Mosque or Büyük Mecidiye Camii in Besiktas, Istanbul, however, stands out as one of the absolutely best.

Ortakoy means “the village in the middle”.

The monument's premises is a unique location directly before the famed bridge over the Bosphorus strait – the bridge that connects Asia and Europe. And here lies the mosque within a triangle, made of a Muslim mosque, a Jewish synagogue and a Christian church, beholding the religious confluence and freedom elevating Turkey as a secular state. It's quite impossible not to notice this edifice at the waterfront, which makes viewing sunset and sunrise very spectacular for its visitors with the most photogenic opportunities. If you might be wondering why the Ortakoy Mosque is architecturally so important? It's perhaps because it was re-built in the 19th Century, in place of a little mosque built in 1720 and ruined in 1731 because of the Patrona Halil Uprising. This baroque style mosque embodies the finest example of late Ottoman-era architecture. What you see today is a structure that has been damaged by an earthquake in 1894 and stood on shaky grounds for many decades. After over a century, it was completely restored and reattained its previous splendour. Ortakoy was designed & constructed by the Ottoman Armenian family of court architects Garabet Balyan and his son Nigogayus Balyan on Sultan Abdulmecid's orders to serve as the Grand Imperial Mosque. No better location could have been selected to build this mosque, and the two architects created a truly inspiring structure in two years. After seeing Ortakoy, it won't come as a surprise to any traveller to know that these two architects later designed the magnificent  Dolmabahce Palace. An evening can be spent here leisurely enjoying and strolling in the paved alleys of Ortakoy. It is a popular meeting place for the locals providing a cosy atmosphere with its lovely boutiques, waterfront cafés and restaurants such as the Feriye Palace, Banyan, Kalamata or Muessese.  So, while you are there, meander around a bit and discover not only one of the most historic mosques in Istanbul but the oldest and most charming and nostalgic neighbourhood as well. Try to come here in the early morning to catch the morning breeze at the seaside, drink a cup of Turkish coffee and enjoy the view of the mosque, usually covered in mist during the early hours. Çok gezen Çok bilir – A saying in Turkish which means, the one who travels a lot, learns a lot.