First published: 10/12/19.

Ilya Burlak 1

Nuruosmaniye Complex

Nuruosmaniye Complex (On tentative list)

Nuruosmaniye Complex by Ilya Burlak

I made a 15-minute stop at Nuruosmaniye Mosque on my tour around Istanbul in November 2019. The mosque is located outside one of the entrances to the Grand Bazaar, well away from the main tourist hotspot of Sultanahmet; while it is technically on the path from Sultanahmet to Suleymaniye, Nuruosmaniye Mosque gets a tiny fraction of the traffic than the more famous attractions in Istanbul.

The architectural significance of the mosque is in the fact that it is as Baroque as a mosque can be. No restoration work needed or being undertaken - unlike in several other grand mosques that I visited - definitely contributed to the visual impact. It is clearly a standout piece of architecture and design. I was the only visitor on the mid-morning Saturday, while there were a couple of worshippers by the mihrab. My local guide asked a custodian to allow me to go up to the upper terraces of the mosque, but was rebuffed.

The tentative WH inscription calls the Nuruosmaniye complex the finest example of the "Ottoman Baroque" and builds its OUV on that. Although that is clearly distinct from the OUV of the existing Historic Areas of Istanbul WHS, I would be surprised if Nuruosmaniye ever becomes a separate site rather than an extension of the Istanbul one.

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