Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, Üsküdar (İskele Mosque)

Built for the Sultan's only daughter

Mihrimah was the only daughter of Suleiman and Hürrem Sultan and the wife of Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha, which made her one of the most influential women of the 16th-century Ottoman court. When she commissioned this complex, Sinan had only recently become chief imperial architect, and the mosque counts among his first large works for the dynasty. A madrasa and a primary school completed the foundation.

The location was deliberate. For centuries Üsküdar was the starting point for travel into Anatolia, including caravans and pilgrims heading toward Mecca, and the square by the pier was effectively the city's gateway to Asia. A mosque here greeted every traveller arriving across the water.

Details worth noticing

• The broad, deep-eaved outer portico on a raised terrace, a generous shelter from sun and rain that suits Sinan's waterfront setting
• The large ablution fountain in front, still very much part of daily life on the square
• A central dome buttressed by three semi-domes, with light pouring in through tiers of windows
• Two slender minarets with single balconies that make the silhouette easy to pick out from the ferry
• Close by, the richly carved Fountain of Ahmed III (1728), a showpiece of the Tulip Era

Two Mihrimah mosques and a romantic legend

Sinan built a second mosque for Mihrimah on the opposite edge of the city, the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque at Edirnekapı beside the land walls. A popular legend says the architect was quietly in love with her, and that on certain days the sun sets behind the Edirnekapı mosque just as the moon rises over Üsküdar, a nod to her name, which means 'sun and moon'. There is no documentary evidence, but it is a lovely excuse to visit both.

Add the tile-covered Rüstem Pasha Mosque, built in her husband's name, and you can trace one powerful family's mark on Istanbul. Our Sinan trail links these buildings into a route.

Visiting tips and etiquette

This is a working mosque, so tourist visits pause briefly during prayer times. Shoulders and knees should be covered, women should bring a headscarf, and shoes come off at the door. Our guide to mosque etiquette covers the details, and Muslim travellers will find more in our guide for Muslim visitors.

Although it faces one of the busiest squares on the Asian side, the prayer hall feels calm. Afterwards, buy a simit and sit by the water to watch the ferries come and go. The Yeni Valide Mosque nearby and, a short climb uphill, the tomb of the 17th-century Sufi scholar Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi round off a more spiritual Üsküdar walk.

Getting there from Sareban Hotel

This is one of the easiest Asian-side sights to reach from our hotel. Walk or take the T1 tram to Sirkeci, then ride Marmaray under the Bosphorus for one stop; when you surface in Üsküdar, the mosque is practically in front of you.

For the scenic version, take a ferry to Üsküdar from Eminönü, Karaköy or Kabataş. The boats dock right in front of the mosque, and watching its domes grow larger from the deck is about as close as you can get to how travellers arrived here in the 1500s.

Where to go next

• Walk south along the shore to Salacak for the view of the Maiden's Tower.
• Head north by bus or taxi to the multicultural village of Kuzguncuk.
• Take the metro uphill to the vast Çamlıca Mosque, Turkey's largest.