Ortaköy Mosque

Ortaköy Mosque (Turkish: Ortaköy Camii), formally the Büyük Mecidiye Camii (Great Mosque of Sultan Abdülmecid) in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Turkey, is a mosque situated at the waterside of the Ortaköy pier square, one of the most popular locations on the Bosphorus.

The current mosque was commissioned by the Ottoman sultan Abdülmecid I and built or completed around 1854 or 1856, replacing a small mosque built in 1720 that was ruined during the Patrona Halil Uprising in 1731. It was designed by Armenian architect Garabet Balyan and his son Nigoğayos Balyan, who were also responsible for the nearby Dolmabahçe Palace.

As with their other projects in Istanbul, the Balyans designed the mosque in a mixed or eclectic style incorporating contemporary European Revivalist trends such as Neoclassical, along with some details and overall design elements drawn from the earlier Ottoman Baroque style. It reflects the era’s fascination with European styles, especially the Neo-Baroque influence, which sets it apart from Istanbul’s earlier imperial mosques.

The building consists of a two-story imperial apartment for the sultan, which has a U-shaped plan, and a main prayer hall for the mosque, which has a square plan covered with one dome. The facades with engaged columns are decorated by carved stone reliefs, giving the mosque a “dynamic appearance”.

The mosque is small in comparison to other mosques but the inside is spacious and has wide, tall windows which refract its reflection in water as well as allowing in daylight. The inside of the dome is adorned with Trompe-l’œil frescoes, which were a feature first introduced to Ottoman architecture during the reign of Abdülmecid I.