Mosquée Rüstem Pacha

The Rüstem Pasha Mosque (Rüstem Paşa Camii) is an Ottoman mosque located in the Hasırcılar Çarşısı (Strawmat Weavers Market) in the Tahtakale neighborhood of the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey, near the Spice Bazaar. Named after Rüstem Pasha, who served as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Suleiman I, it was designed by the Ottoman imperial architect Mimar Sinan and completed in around 1563. The Rüstem Pasha Mosque was designed by Ottoman imperial architect Mimar Sinan for the Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha. Rüstem Pasha was the husband of Mihrimah Sultan, one of the daughters of Suleiman the Magnificent by Hurrem Sultan, and served as Grand Vizier (a role comparable to a European prime minister) from 1544 to 1553 and from 1555 to 1561. Rüstem Pasha commissioned a number of important buildings, including religious schools, mosques, and other structures. Before his death in 1561, he hoped to construct a final mosque of his own in Istanbul — in part to repair his controversial legacy — though the extent to which he had outlined his intentions for the eponymous mosque remains ambiguous. Sultan Suleiman I authorized the project after the Grand Vizier’s death. It was assigned to the Ottoman’s chief architect, Mimar Sinan. The Rüstem Pasha Mosque was unique among Sinan’s many mosques for his lavishly decorated, tiled interior. Rüstem Pasha may have ordered the mosque’s characteristic İznik tiles in order to support court designer Kara Memi, who was known for elegant floral designs. Efforts to date the Rüstem Pasha Mosque precisely have proved inconclusive, in part because of the lack of a foundation document, or vakfiye. Michael D. Willis’ analysis of its İznik tiles suggest that they date to 1555. Other sources suggest that some of them could have been crafted after Rüstem Pasha’s death in 1561 . More recent analyses of primary sources by Leslie Meral Schick determined that the mosque was probably built between 1561 and 1563. Plans for the mosque were only set in motion beginning in 1561, and deeds for the purchase of land date to 1562.