New? It was Finished in 1663!

The New Mosque (Yeni Cami), in Istanbul's Eminönü district on the Golden Horn at the southern end of Galata Bridge, is officially the Mosque of the Valide Sultan (Queen Mother) because it was commissioned by Safiye, mother of Sultan Mehmet III in 1597.

After her son died, Safiye was no longer Queen Mother, with a queen's powers and revenues, so her mosque sat unfinished.

Six sultans later, Turhan Hatice, Queen Mother of Sultan Mehmet IV, took up the work and finished it, which is another reason it's called the Vailde Sultan's Mosque.

I guess it is "new" because it was finished after Istanbul's other great imperial mosques: the Fatih Camii (Mosque of the Conqueror, 1470), Selimiye Camii (1522), Süleymaniye Camii (Mosque of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, 1557), and the Sultan Ahmet Camii (Blue Mosque, 1616).

But the New Mosque was begun before the Blue Mosque was. No doubt many of the workers who toiled on the Valide Sultan Camii were transferred to the Hippodrome in 1606 to begin work on the Blue Mosque. The Valide Sultan Camii was then finished by their descendants three generations later.

Inside is a wealth of gold, marble and faience (colored tiles). Be sure to take a look when you're in Istanbul.

Rüstem Pasha Mosque is an Ottoman mosque located in Hasircilar Carsisi (Strawmat Weavers Market) in Eminönü, Istanbul.

It was designed by Mimar Sinan ("Sinan the Architect") for Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha (who married one of the daughters of Suleiman the Magnificent, Princess Mihrimah). Its building took place from 1561 to 1563. The mosque is famous for its exquisite Kutahya tiles, set in beautiful floral and geometric designs, which cover not only the facade of the porch but also the mihrab, minbar, walls, and columns.

The plan of the mosque consists of an octagon inscribed in a rectangle. The dome rests on four semi-domes; not on the axes but in the diagonals of the building.

The arches of the dome spring from four octagonal pillars— two on the north, two on the south— and from piers projecting from the east and west walls. To the north and south are galleries supported by pillars and by small marble columns between them.

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia (Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία; "Holy Wisdom", Turkish: Ayasofya) is a former patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, now a museum, in Istanbul, Turkey. Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture. It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until the completion of the Medieval Seville Cathedral in 1520.

The current building was originally constructed as a church between 532 and 537 on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, and was in fact the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the site (the previous two had both been destroyed by riots). It was designed by two architects, Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. The Church contained a large collection of holy relics and featured, among other things, a 50 ft (15 m) silver iconostasis. It was the patriarchal church of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the religious focus point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly 1000 years.

In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the building to be converted into a mosque. The bells, altar, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed, and many of the mosaics were eventually plastered over. The Islamic features - such as the mihrab, the minbar, and the four minarets outside - were added over the course of its history under the Ottomans. It remained as a mosque until 1935, when it was converted into a museum by the secular Republic of Turkey.

For almost 500 years the principal mosque of Istanbul, Hagia Sophia served as a model for many of the Ottoman mosques such as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque of Istanbul), the Şehzade Mosque, the Süleymaniye Mosque, and the Rüstem Pasha Mosque.

Although it is sometimes referred to as Saint Sophia (Greek for wisdom), the Greek name in full is Church of the Holy Wisdom of God Ναός τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας - and it was dedicated to the Holy Wisdom of God rather than a specific saint named Sophia.