The Blue Mosque is one of the most prominent landmarks of Istanbul, especially when viewed from the First Hill or from the Asian shore of the Sea of Marmara. It is very impressive with its beautiful domes and semi-domes, nice courtyards and six slender minarets. The Blue Mosque was founded by Sultan Ahmet I. He ordered architect Mehmed Aga to begin construction in 1609 and the whole complex was completed in 1616. The location of the mosque is just opposite of the splendid Church of Hagia Sophia as it is trying to compete with it. That is actually true because Architect Mehmed wanted to construct a bigger dome then Hagia Sophia's but he could not succeed. Instead, he made the mosque splendid by the perfect proportion of domes and semi-domes as well as the splendid minarets. There is an interesting story of the mosque; according to it, Sultan Ahmet I wanted to have a minaret made of gold which is �altin� in Turkish. The architect misunderstood him as �alti� which means �six� in English. However, when the architect was shivering as �am I going to be beheaded?�, the Sultan Ahmed I liked the minarets so much. Prior to that time, no sultan had a mosque with 6 minarets. I visited the Blue Mosque for the first time in 1966. I was hitch-hiking.