Besides the magnificent Tophane Fountain, the Kılıç Ali Paşa Mosque is located in Tophane. On the advice of Grand Admiral Kılıç Ali Paşa, famous Ottoman architect Sinan the Architect constructed it in 1581. The mosque’s design is evocative of a scaled-down replica of the famous Hagia Sophia. One of the finest examples of Istanbul’’s mosques and a must-see.

Kılıç Ali Pasha Mosque is a mosque built by Sinan the Architect by Admiral Kılıç Ali Pasha in the Tophane district of Istanbul. The mosque was built in 1580 and has a complex consisting of a tomb, madrasah, and bath.

The mosque is like a small example of Hagia Sophia, with the semi-domes and support walls on the sides of the dome. The tiles on the mihrab side belong to the bright period of Iznik. The influence of calligrapher Demircikulu Yusuf Efendi can be seen in the interior decoration of the mosque.

The mosque, which underwent a comprehensive restoration in 2011, is one of the important buildings of Istanbul with its tomb and bath. Following the restoration, other parts of the complex, including the madrasa, were completed in 2015. The mosque was designed in harmony with the Tophane Fountain opposite it and contains many levend cemeteries. The most striking among these is the sarcophagus tomb of Admiral Ateş Mehmet Pasha with sails and broken masts. The mihrab was built beyond the mosque wall and there is a fountain in the entrance courtyard.

When Kılıç Ali Pasha asked Sultan Murad III for a place to build a mosque, the Sultan told him to build a mosque by the sea. Thereupon, Kılıç Ali Pasha, in agreement with Sinan the Architect, started the construction of the mosque by piling up stones and rubble on the Tophane dock. For this reason, Kılıç Ali Pasha Mosque is known as the first mosque built on the sea.