Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu

I WAS going to write about New York. I was going to write something nice. I was going to write about how when you are in Grand Central in the main room with the green ceiling you can take this escalator up, go through these double doors, walk around the corner, and find yourself in the lobby of the Met Life Building where there is a very nice sculpture commemorating the time when the Met Life building was the PanAm world headquarters (when they used to have helicopters landing on the roof). I was going to write about all of that, but I'm NOT. I'm mad at you Met Life building, and your irritating security guards who drove me off the property and your rules against taking pictures.

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Let's talk about Istanbul again. A few posts ago, I wrote about the Hagia Sophia, and how I really need to go visit it soon. But now there's another house of worship in Istanbul - the Sakirin Mosque - that has caught my attention (and the attention of many others). Its not Byzantine though. Its new! It was very recently completed and is the “first notable mosque designed by a famous female architect,” Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu. If the outside structure of glass and cast iron mesh impress you, the interior is even more breathtaking.

Have a look.

***SIDE NOTE: I've seen a lot of articles about this building saying that it is the first ever mosque to be designed by a female. I've also read comments from other bloggers saying that there are other mosques designed by females but that this is the first one to have so much publicity (hence the quote above). If anyone has any information on this, please feel free to share it in a comment on this post.