Istanbul's Grand Camlica Mosque hosts 25m people in 3 years

Istanbul’s Grand Camlica Mosque, which houses the Museum of Islamic Civilisations, has hosted 25 million people since its inauguration three years ago, reports Anadolu Agency.

Apart from being a grand place of worship, the mosque is the most modern complex in Turkey with its art gallery, library, conference hall, art workshop, and the newly launched Museum of Islamic Civilisations.

The gigantic mosque, whose idea belongs to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and whose foundation was laid on August 7, 2013, on Istanbul’s iconic Camlica Hill, has a combination of Ottoman and Seljuk architecture and is located on Istanbul’s Asian side.

It has become one of the symbols of the city.

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Four of the mosque’s minarets stand 107.1 meters (352 feet) tall, an acknowledgment of the Seljuk Turks’ victory in Malazgirt (Manzikert), eastern Turkiye, in 1071 against the Byzantine army which opened Anatolia to Turkish settlement.

The central dome hangs 72 meters (236 feet) above the ground, representing the 72 nations living in the city. The second dome has a diameter of 34 meters (112 feet) – Istanbul’s official license number.

Its main gate – which weighs 6 tons, stands as high as 6.5 meters (21 foot) and has a 5-meter width – is one of the largest ones around the world.

There are eight art workshops, an art gallery of 3,500 square meters (37,670 square feet), a library of 3,000 sq. mt. (32,290 sq. ft.), a conference hall with a capacity of 1,071 seats, and an indoor parking lot for 3,500 vehicles in the mosque complex.