Muratpasha Mosque

Muratpasha Mosque

This uniquely striped mosque sits between Yusufpasa and Aksaray stations and was built just 20 years after the fall of Constantinople in 1473. The interior of the mosque appears to be longer than the exterior and over the entrance is a superb calligraphy inscription made by Ali Sofi whose hand work can also be seen on the gateway in to Topkapi Palace.

Muratpahsa Mosque is the largest complex in the city donated by a vizier. Close to the Aksaray footbridge, the Muratpasha Mosque, according to the dates of  1469 – 1471 inscription, is one of the oldest mosques in the city. Since it was built only twenty years after the conquest of the city. Its founder was Has Muratpahsa, the vizier during the rule of Sultan Mehmed II.

Has Muratpasha, a member of the Palaiologos dynasty, became one of the most important viziers of Sultan Mehmet II. After Muratpasha died during the Otlukbeli war in 1469, his brother Vizier Mesih Pasha completed the mosque in 1473.