Blue Mosque, Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Sultanahmet Camii, Nave - Dome, Ceiling

Inside, the high ceiling is lined with the 20,000 blue handmade ceramic tiles that give the mosque its popular name. Fine examples of 16th-Century Iznik design, the oldest tiles feature flowers, trees and abstract patterns. The many lamps inside the mosque were once covered with gold and gems. The floors are covered with carpets. The great tablets on the walls are inscribed with the names of the caliphs and verses from the Quran. The upper levels of the interior are dominated by blue paint. More than 200 stained glass windows in the Mosque. The colored glass for the windows was a gift of the Signoria of Venice to the sultan. Most of these colored windows have by now been replaced with inferior replicas.