Kara Ahmet Pasha Mosque, Istanbul

جامع قره أحمد باشا

A Sinan mosque on the Seventh Hill near Top Kapı, begun 1558 for Gazi Kara Ahmet Pasha, the grand vezir executed in 1555.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Gunpowder Empires
Region
Anatolia
Review
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Architecture

Summary

Kara Ahmet Pasha Camii — one of the most masterful and lovely of Sinan's works per Freely — stands on the Seventh Hill just inside Top Kapı of the Theodosian Walls; it was built for Gazi Kara Ahmet Pasha, who succeeded Rüstem Pasha as grand vezir in 1553 only to be executed by Süleyman two years later 1.

Construction

Per Aptullah Kuran, construction began in 1558, the founder's small türbe went up the same year, and mosque and medrese were finished in the early 1560s 2.

For young visitors

A sultan executed his grand vezir, yet the architect Sinan completed the vezir's mosque after his death — it remains among Istanbul's loveliest.

Curatorial notes

  • Source read: Freely, A History of Ottoman Architecture (2011), pp. 297–298 (Kara Ahmet Pasha Camii).
  • Record created in this batch.

People and things also explored

Abu Dulaf Mosque, Samarra· Great Mosque of Adana· Ahi Çelebi Mosque, Istanbul· al-Aqmar Mosque, Cairo· al-Attarine Madrasa, Fez· Great Mosque of Samarra· al-Janad Mosque, Ta'izz· al-Mansur Mosque (Kasbah Mosque), Marrakesh

Sources

  1. John Freely, A History of Ottoman Architecture (2011) , p.297
  2. John Freely, A History of Ottoman Architecture (2011) , p.297-298
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Kara Ahmet Pasha Mosque, Istanbul”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/building/kara-ahmet-pasha-mosque/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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