The largest mosque in Turkey, Çamlıca Mosque is a place of Islamic worship which was completed and opened in March of 2019. The mosque is located in Üsküdar in Istanbul and showcases an art gallery, library, and a conference hall. The cost of the mosque was 110 million USD, which was an investment into the megaproject plan by the Turkish government in an attempt to strengthen the economy. The architectural design planning of Çamlıca Mosque began in the year 2000 and was led by two female architects, Bahar Mızrak and Hayriye Gül Totu. The design of the mosque was inspired by Ottoman Islamic architecture, Mimar Sinan and from local traditions of Denmark and Scandinavia.
The inauguration of Çamlıca Mosque
The current largest mosque in Turkey, Çamlıca Mosque was completed and opened on 7 March 2019. The official inauguration of the mosque was on 3 May 2019 by the current President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The president inaugurated the Çamlıca Mosque with a speech condemning terrorist attacks, stating that the people behind these deadly attacks were “common enemies of all humanity.” While cutting the ribbon to mark the official opening of the mosque, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that the terrorist attackers shared “a dark mentality.”
Çamlıca Mosque as part of Turkey’s megaprojects
The Çamlıca Mosque was one of the several megaprojects such as the Canal Istanbul by the current Turkish government of the AK Party in an attempt to strengthen the economy. The megaprojects plan by the AK Party of Turkey sparked controversy and political turmoil about the management of a faltering economy. Others believe the project is visionary and will boost the country's touristic economy and infrastructure investments. The megaprojects plan on the canal has also sparked environmental controversy where environmentalists have warned that the infrastructures could damage the canal ecosystem, making it uninhabitable. On another end, supporters are raving about the way the project is generating growth in the economy where the president replied with the statement, "We invested billions in Istanbul, and now they say we robbed the country?", accusing opponents of the AK Party of peddling lies and sparking controversy.
Interior and exterior gallery
Architecture
The architectural design planning of Çamlıca Mosque began in the year 2000 and was led by two female architects, Hayriye Gül Totu and Bahar Mızrak. The female architects designed the mosque to hold 63,000 people with special consideration for women as there is a separate area for women to pray and also a childcare space. The design of Çamlıca Mosque was inspired by the combination of Ottoman Islamic architecture as well as from local traditions of Denmark and Scandinavia. The design of the architecture considered the possibility of an earthquake. The designers of the project took into account the standards of what is ‘earthquake safe’ for the city of Istanbul and this was the reason that the mosque is able to accommodate 100,000 people in case of an earthquake.
Exterior
Bellaigue describes the exterior of Çamlıca Mosque as “a huge box attached to a colonnaded courtyard; on top of the box, domes and half-domes swarm around a squat central dome surmounted by a golden, crescent-shaped finial." The design of the exterior was heavily inspired by the chief builder of the Ottoman classical age, architect Mimar Sinan. Sinan’s Ottoman designs had influence on the exterior design plan of the mosque where, “its use of concrete has relegated Sinan’s structural devices – the dome-clusters, for example, that he used to diffuse the downward thrust of the main dome – to mere ornament.” The mosque is located on Çamlıca Hill and stares out to one of Sinan’s creation, the Suleymaniye Mosque. The mosque is situated to rival the Suleymaniye Mosque, which was designed and built by the famous Mimar Sinan to be facing the hill on the European bank of the Bosphorus in Istanbul. At 72 metres in height, the main dome of Çamlıca Mosque symbolises the 72 nations residing in Istanbul, Turkey and the dome spanning 34 metres represents the city of Istanbul. The measurements of the main dome are 3.12 metre’s wide, 7.77 metres in height and weighs 4.5 tons. The mosque features some of the largest gates inside a place of worship in the world where the main gate is 5 metres in length, 6.5 metres in height and weighs 6 tons. The finial was coloured using nanotechnology and comprises of three parts. The finial of the Çamlıca Mosque is worldwide the largest.
Interior
Çamlıca Mosque features a museum, underground parking space, an art gallery, library, conference hall, and a childcare. The art gallery is of 3,500 square metres and the library is that of 3,000 square metres in space. The conference hall is able to seat up to 1,071 people and the mosque features eight art workshops as well as an indoor parking lot to hold up to 3,500 vehicles. The interior of Çamlıca Mosque was designed with a more minimalist architectural approach. The intention of the two female designers was to make people feel more spiritual within the space, they stated that the use of “light, colour, glass, ornamentation and calligraphy” was done so with this in mind.
Minarets
Çamlıca Mosque has six minarets which represents the six pillars of Islam. Four of the six minarets feature three balconies that stand 107.1 metres high which is dedicated to the Turk’s Victory of Manzikert in 1071. The other two minarets feature two balconies and stand at 90 metres in height. The 72 metre main dome represents the 72 nations who reside in the city of Istanbul, the minarets are centred around the dome with the four minarets on even ends and the other two on the outer ends of the mosque.
Female design and female-specific features
The architectural design planning of Çamlıca Mosque was led by two female architects, Bahar Mızrak and Hayriye Gül Totu. The architects planned to create a ‘female-friendly’ mosque that uses positive discrimination for women. The planning of the mosque incorporated a separate space for women to perform ablutions before prayer, a separate elevator to the prayer spaces and a childcare. The separate prayer space for women is located in the central hall of the mosque and holds up to 600 people. The childcare for children has a playground area and a car park. The architects stated that they wanted to change the tradition of more men going to mosques than females by designing Çamlıca Mosque to be ‘female-friendly.'
