Turkey’s largest and newest mosque, the Camlica Mosque Complex in Istanbul has just been inaugurated by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The construction on the mosque had begun in 2013. The mosque has a total worshipper capacity of 63,000 people.
The mosque was built using a combination of Ottoman and Seljuk architectural style. The new Mosque has also become one of the newest symbols of the city.
The structure itself has many references to the city and the country. It supports six minarets that represent six key aspects of Islamic belief including the belief in one God, the prophets, day of judgment, divine decree and revealed books.
Amongst the minarets, four stands at 107 meters (352 feet) tall which also serves as an acknowledgment to the Seljuk Turk’s victory in eastern turkey in Manzikert in 1071 against the Byzantine army.
The central dome of the mosque hangs 236 feet above the ground and it represents the 72 nations living in Istanbul. The second dome of the mosque stands 112 feet above the ground with 34 meters diameter is also Istanbul’s official license number.
Within the inner walls of the mosque are inscribed sixteen names of Allah which symbolizes the number of states founded by the Turks through history.
The Camlica Mosque Complex also has indoor parking available for up to 3,500 vehicles.
Forbes magazine has valued the mosque at $4.7 billion.
Turkey’s top 10 largest mosques by capacities
To give you a rough idea of how big the Camlica Mosque Complex is, here is a comparison of Turkey’s 10 largest mosques.
- Camlica Mosque Complex Istanbul – 63,000 people
- Sabanci Central Mosque Adana – 28,500
- Kocatepe Mosque Ankara – 24,000
- Suleymaniye Mosque Istanbul – 20,000
- Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia) Istanbul – 18,000
- Sultan Ahmet Mosque Istanbul -10,000
- Selimiye Mosque Edirne – 10,000
- Bursa Grand Mosque Bursa – 8,000
- New Mosque Istanbul – 7,500
- Fatih Mosque Istanbul – 5,000