Teşvikiye Mosque

Most visitors to Istanbul associate mosque architecture with domes and minarets. Teşvikiye Camii is the exception, and it sits barely a kilometre from Taksim Square.

Commissioned by Sultan Abdülmecit and completed in 1853, it was designed by Nigoğayos Balyan — the same Balyan dynasty that produced Dolmabahçe Palace, Çırağan and several Beylerbeyi interiors. That shows: the building is Neo-Classical in its bones, with Ottoman proportions, a colonnaded courtyard, and a facade of paired arched windows framed by classical columns. It looks more like a small Venetian basilica than a Teşvikiye town mosque.

The scale is intimate. The courtyard holds maybe a hundred people, which in Nişantaşı — where the pavement outside is shoulder to shoulder most evenings — feels almost private. Between the prayer times you will find locals sitting on the marble benches under the portico, and the café opposite does excellent Turkish breakfast if you have just missed one.

It is a working place of worship first. Non-Muslims are welcome in the courtyard and to look in from the portico, but the prayer hall is for worshippers: cover your shoulders and knees, take your shoes off at the entrance, and avoid visiting during the Friday midday prayer, which is the busiest hour of the week.