Rüstem Pasha Mosque

Rüstem Pasha is easy to walk past: the entrance is an unmarked stairway off a crowded market lane behind the Spice Bazaar, and the mosque sits on a terrace above the shops, which were built beneath it to fund its upkeep. Sinan finished it around 1563 for Rüstem Pasha, Süleyman's grand vizier and son-in-law, and the interest is entirely in the tiles. İznik pottery was at its technical peak, and the mosque is faced with an extraordinary quantity of it - panels of tulips, carnations, hyacinths and arabesques covering the facade of the porch, the piers, the mihrab wall and the spandrels, including the tomato-red slip that İznik workshops had only recently mastered and would lose again within a century. The space is small enough that it reads as one room, and the density of pattern at close range is the reason people who know Istanbul's mosques often name this one first.

What you actually see

• The İznik panels - tulip and carnation tiles across the walls.
• The porch facade - tiled spandrels above the entrance.
• The raised terrace - the mosque above its market shops.
• The hidden stairway - the unmarked entrance from the lane.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Mid-morning, between prayers, when light comes through the windows onto the tiles.

Honest expectations

The entrance is genuinely hard to find - look for the stairway off Hasırcılar Çarşısı. It is small and can feel crowded with a few visitors. Working mosque rules apply: shoes off, modest dress, headscarf for women.

Nearby

The Spice Bazaar and Eminönü waterfront are below; Süleymaniye is up the hill.