The Blue Mosque

Six thin, needle-like minarets rise above the cascading domes of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. Sultan Ahmed the first commissioned this structure in sixteen oh nine, hoping to appease God after a series of military setbacks. He was only nineteen years old at the time, and he insisted that his mosque feature six minarets, a number previously reserved only for the mosque in Mecca. The architect Sedefkar Mehmed Aga faced intense criticism for this perceived arrogance until he eventually added a seventh minaret to Mecca.