Çamlıca Mosque

The Grand Çamlıca Mosque (Turkish pronunciation: [tʃamlɯdʒa], transliterated as Chamlija in English) (Turkish: Büyük Çamlıca Camii) is a landmark complex for Islamic worship which was completed and opened on 7 March 2019. The mosque stands astride Çamlıca Hill in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul and is visible from much of the centre of the city. The complex incorporates an art gallery, library, and conference hall. It can hold up to 63,000 worshippers at a time (can accommodate up to 100,000 people in case of an earthquake).

The cost of the mosque was US$110 million (approx. 550 million Turkish liras at the time). Planning for the Çamlıca Mosque began in the year 2000 and was led by two female architects, Bahar Mızrak and Hayriye Gül Totu. Their design won second prize in a competition to come up with something suitable.

The mosque was officially inaugurated on 3 May 2019 by the current President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Several international leaders were present at the ceremony including Senegalese President Macky Sall, Guinean President Alpha Conde, Albanian president Ilir Meta, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and other foreign dignitaries.

Çamlıca Mosque was only the third mosque in Turkey to have six minarets, after the Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque in Istanbul and the Sabancı Merkez Mosque in Adana.