thumb|right|300px|Section and plan of the mosque published by [[Cornelius Gurlitt (art historian)|Cornelius Gurlitt in 1912 ]]
The Rüstem Pasha Mosque () is an Ottoman mosque located in the Hasırcılar Çarşısı (Strawmat Weavers Market) in the Tahtakale neighborhood of the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey, near the Spice Bazaar. Named after Rüstem Pasha, who served as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Suleiman I, it was designed by the Ottoman imperial architect Mimar Sinan and completed in around 1563.
The mosque is noted for the many different designs of İznik tiles that cover almost every vertical surface both in the interior and under the entrance porch.
History
Rüstem Pasha
The Rüstem Pasha Mosque was designed by Ottoman imperial architect Mimar Sinan for the Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha. Rüstem Pasha was the husband of Mihrimah Sultan, one of the daughters of Suleiman the Magnificent by Hurrem Sultan, and served as Grand Vizier (a role comparable to a European prime minister) from 1544 to 1553 and from 1555 to 1561.
Rüstem Pasha commissioned a number of important buildings, including religious schools, mosques, and other structures. Before his death in 1561, he hoped to construct a final mosque of his own in Istanbul — in part to repair his controversial legacy — though the extent to which he had outlined his intentions for the eponymous mosque remains ambiguous.
Sultan Suleiman I authorized the project in 1562 after the Grand Vizier's death. It was assigned to the Ottoman's chief architect, Mimar Sinan. The Rüstem Pasha Mosque is unique among Sinan's many mosques for the lavishly decorated, tiled interior. Rüstem Pasha may have ordered the mosque's characteristic İznik tiles in order to support court designer Kara Memi, who was known for elegant floral designs. Other sources suggest that some of them could have been crafted after Rüstem Pasha's death in 1561. More recent analyses of primary sources has determined that the mosque was probably built between 1561 and 1563. Plans for the mosque were only set in motion beginning in 1561, and deeds for the purchase of land date to 1562. One water deed implies that the mosque was incomplete in December 1562, so the mosque was likely only operational by late 1563. In 2021 it reopened for worship after extensive restoration.
Architecture
Exterior
This small mosque was built on a high terrace over a complex of vaulted shops, whose rents were intended to financially support the mosque complex. Its elevation makes it a more visible component of the Istanbul skyline. Narrow, twisting interior flights of steps in the corners give access to a spacious courtyard. The mosque has a double porch with five domed bays, from which projects a deep and low roof supported by a row of columns. Due to the lack of space on the elevated terrace, the ablution kiosk was located at street level.
Interior
The building is basically an octagon inscribed in a rectangle. The main dome rests on four semi-domes; not on the axes but in the diagonals of the building. The arches of the dome spring from four octagonal pillars— two on the north, two on the south— and from piers projecting from the east and west walls. To the north and south are galleries supported by pillars and by small marble columns between them. While it has been theorized that the tiling may have been inspired by Sinan's wife Mihrimah, it could also be that Rüstem Pasha himself requested the tiling for economic reasons and to support a court artist specializing in floral designs. The bright emerald green colour is only used in a panel added above an exterior doorway at a later date, and a study of the qibla tiling indicates that turquoise was the greenest hue available to the mosque's builders prior to the addition of that emerald green. Some of the tiles, particularly those in a large panel under the portico to the left main entrance, are decorated with sage green and dark manganese purple that are characteristic of the earlier 'Damascus ware' colour scheme. Yet the mosque's tiling does not feature the olive green found to be characteristic of Damascus tiles.