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The New Mosque (Yeni Cami), originally named Valide Sultan Mosque, is an Ottoman imperial mosque in Istanbul’s Eminönü district. Built between 1597 and 1665, its construction was initiated by Safiye Sultan and later completed by Turhan Sultan. It stands at the southern end of the Galata Bridge, marking the transition from Istanbul’s historic core to Beyoğlu.
The mosque's construction faced delays due to political opposition and financial concerns. It was abandoned in 1603 and later damaged in the 1660 Great Fire. Turhan Sultan resumed the project, also commissioning the nearby Spice Bazaar. Completed in 1665, it was renamed the New Valide Sultan Mosque, later shortened to Yeni Cami.
Architecturally, the mosque features a 36-meter-high dome supported by four semi-domes, inspired by earlier designs of Mimar Sinan. The courtyard, flanked by colonnades, includes an ornamental ablution fountain. Inside, İznik tiles adorn the walls, and the dome rests on four massive piers. A royal lodge with a gilded screen connects to an imperial pavilion.
The mosque complex (külliye) once included a hospital, school, and palace. The Spice Bazaar, originally part of this complex, remains a major landmark. The adjacent mausoleum houses the tombs of Turhan Sultan, Mehmed IV, and five later sultans. The mosque undergoes ongoing restorations by the Turkish General Directorate of Foundations.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.