Istanbul sultan Bayezid II mosque

We continue our tour of Istanbul and we are still in the Fatih area, in the area called Bayazit. This is the historical part of Istanbul. There are many monuments from the Ottoman Empire here.
Right in front of us is the Istanbul University, and next to it is the mosque of Sultan Bayezid II, as well as his mausoleum. Today we will visit this mosque and mausoleum.
The mosque was built by order of Sultan Bayezid II in 1500-1506 and became the second large mosque to appear in Constantinople after its conquest in 1453.
The first was the Fatih Mosque, built in 1470, but it was badly damaged during the earthquake of 1509 and was later completely rebuilt.
In this regard, the Bayezid Mosque has much greater historical and architectural significance, since the earthquake only partially destroyed its dome. The dome, damaged in 1509, was soon restored.
The area of the mosque is 1600 square meters, where the dimensions are 40 by 40 meters. The diameter of the dome is 17 meters, the height of the dome is 44 meters.
The style of the mosque shows the influence of early Ottoman and Western architectural techniques.
The Bayezid Mosque was designed as a külliye, a large complex that included a madrasah, primary school, public kitchen (imaret), and hammam.
The mosque building was renovated in 1573-1574 by the architect Mimar Sinan.
The minarets burned separately in 1683 and 1764. The inscription above the entrance to the mosque courtyard also reports on the renovation work of 1767.
During the construction of the mosque, columns and other elements from the nearby Byzantine Forum of Theodosius were widely used.
In front of the entrance there is a courtyard surrounded by a domed colonnade, with a fountain for ablution. This construction method was widely used in Turkish temple construction. And the two minarets located at a decent distance from the mosque are a very rare style.
The interior decoration is very reminiscent of the interior of the Hagia Sophia, only on a smaller scale.
The main dome is placed on the side naves, which are divided by columns and "carry" 4 smaller domes.
Otherwise, everything is traditional: light domes framed by ornamental patterns, and a giant chandelier hanging almost to the floor.
Behind the mosque there is a small garden where the mausoleum of Sultan Bayezid II is located.
The garden also contains the crypts of his daughter Selcuk Sultan and the Grand Vizier Mustafa Reshid Pasha.
The arcade below the garden level was built by Mimar Sinan in 1580 and expanded in the 1960s.
From the moment of its construction, shops were located here, whose income was supposed to go to the maintenance of the mosque. It is still a trading place.
The former public dining hall was converted into the Beyazit State Library during the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II in 1882, and now houses over 120,000 books and 7,000 manuscripts. The former madrasah building now houses the Istanbul City Library.
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