The Laleli Mosque () is an 18th-century Ottoman imperial mosque located in Laleli, Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey. History The mosque was commissioned by Sultan Mustafa III to serve as his imperial or sultanic mosque. Although it was tradition among earlier sultans to build their imperial mosque in commemoration of a major military success, Mustafa III ignored this tradition by ordering the construction before any such victories. Construction began on 5 April 1760 and was completed on 9 March 1764. The architect of the mosque is not confirmed by historical documentation, but art historians have attributed the mosque to Mehmed Tahir Agha, the chief imperial architect at the time of the mosque's completion. On average, about 770 workers were employed in the project and about two thirds of them were non-Muslims, the rest being Muslim. The mosque was the centerpiece of a larger complex (külliye) that included the Mustafa III's tomb, a nearby caravanserai which provided some revenues to the complex, a sebil, and a madrasa. Mustafa III was buried in the mausoleum attached to the complex after his death in 1774. The mosque and its complex were damaged by the 1766 earthquake and, according to Ünver Rüstem, by a fire in 1783. In 1783 it was fully restored. The restoration, which Doğan Kuban attributes to the architect Seyit Mustafa Agha, preserved the original mosque's appearance. The mausoleum's façade was updated with new marble window frames in the early 19th century. The madrasa of the complex was destroyed by fire in 1911. Architecture The mosque was built in the Ottoman Baroque style of its time. The layout is based on that of the earlier Selimiye Mosque of Edirne from the classical period, in accordance with Mustafa III's wishes. The decoration of the mosque and its complex is firmly baroque. The mosque incorporates thus the visual style of the earlier Nuruosmaniye Mosque – the first imperial mosque in the Ottoman Baroque style, completed by Mustafa III's predecessor – but in a more restrained way that integrates it with more traditional Ottoman architecture. Exterior The mosque was built on a high terrace over a complex of vaulted shops, whose rents were intended to financially support the mosque complex. Underneath the mosque structure itself is a great hall, supported by eight enormous pillars with a fountain in the center. The mosque is oriented along a northwest-southeast axis, and has a rectangular courtyard about twice the