The Teşvikiye Mosque features an unusual, neo-baroque facade with white stone columns that curve outward near the entrance. Sultan Abdulmecid ordered this building in eighteen fifty-four to serve the growing neighborhood he developed for residents of the imperial palace. Before the current structure, a simpler mosque stood here. The architect brothers Ohannes and Serkis Balyan replaced it with this grander design, creating a space for the elite to pray near their new homes. Two stone columns stand on the sidewalk outside the entrance.
Tesvikiye Mosque
religious