Atik Valide Mosque

The Atik Valide is one of the great imperial mosques of Istanbul, commissioned by the chief architect Mimar Sinan in 1570 for Nurbanu Sultan, wife of Sultan Selim II. It crowns a hill above Üsküdar with commanding views across the Bosphorus to the European shore. The mosque complex includes a medrese (theological school), a hospice, a caravanserai, and a hamam — a complete Ottoman institution in miniature.

The interior is spacious and well-lit, with Iznik tile panels of exceptional quality. This is one of Sinan's later works, built after his masterpieces at Süleymaniye and Edirne, and the handling of light and space is assured. The mosque is less visited than the great European-side mosques, which makes it all the more worth coming for.

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A story
The Atik Valide was commissioned in 1570 by Nurbanu Sultan, the Venetian-born wife of Selim II and mother of Murad III — one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history. Nurbanu (whose original name was possibly Cecilia Venier-Baffo) navigated the politics of the harem with such skill that she effectively ran Ottoman foreign policy during her husband's later years. The mosque complex she built in Üsküdar was the largest imperial külliye on the Asian side, a statement of patronage and piety that still commands the hillside above the Bosphorus.