Mosque · İskele Meydanı, Mimar Sinan Mahallesi, Üsküdar, İstanbul
Mihrimah Sultan Camii · İskele Camii · Mihrimah Üsküdar Mosque · İskele Mosque
Mimar Sinan's mosque of 1547–48 on Üsküdar's İskele Meydanı, at the Asian end of the Bosphorus ferry crossing — built for Mihrimah Sultan, daughter of Süleyman the Magnificent, and still a working mosque. Not the Mihrimah mosque at Edirnekapı.
Where it is
41.0268, 29.0160
The mosque is the core of a külliye (mosque complex) that Mimar Sinan built for Mihrimah Sultan, the daughter of Süleyman the Magnificent. The inscription over the main gate records its completion in Dhu'l-Hijja 954 (1547–48), and it was Sinan's first work in Üsküdar. Its plan is regarded as the start of ideas he developed later: the central dome is carried on half-domes on three sides, but the entrance side has none, a departure from the four-half-dome scheme of his Şehzade Mosque. A five-domed last-congregation porch is wrapped on three sides by a second, timber-roofed porch that shelters the marble ablution fountain (şadırvan) and takes the sea wind off the entrance; the mosque has two single-balcony minarets. Of the wider complex the mosque, the medrese (now a health centre), the children's school (sıbyan mektebi, now a children's library) and the tombs survive. There are two mosques with this name in Istanbul: this one is in Üsküdar, on the Asian side. The Mihrimah Sultan Mosque at Edirnekapı, in Fatih, is a separate building about 6.7 km away.
A working mosque on İskele Meydanı, the square by Üsküdar's ferry pier (address given by the Ministry of National Education's visit portal: Paşalimanı Caddesi No:2, Mimar Sinan Mahallesi). The Directorate General of Foundations lists it as restored and open for worship, and the portal lists it as open to visitors every day, all day (read 22 September 2026); neither gives visiting hours, and prayer times will shape when you can go in. The portal's visit notes ask visitors to dress in a way that suits a mosque, to use the headscarves and wraps kept at the entrance, to keep their voices down and not to walk in front of people who are praying. The mosque stands in a wide outer courtyard about two metres above the shore road, and that courtyard is entered through a gate reached by steps (TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi).
No season is better documented than another. The mosque is a place of worship all year, so plan around the day's prayer times rather than the calendar.
No seasonal closure or seasonal operating pattern is published for this mosque. The Ministry of National Education's portal, read on 22 September 2026, lists it as open every day. Access is governed by prayer times, which change through the year with sunrise and sunset.
It is a place of worship. According to the Ministry of National Education's visit notes, dress in a way that suits a mosque, use the headscarves and wraps provided at the entrance, speak quietly, and do not walk in front of anyone praying.
The mosque stands on İskele Meydanı, the square at Üsküdar's ferry pier, so it is at the end of the ferry crossing from the European shore.
The approach to the courtyard is by steps, so a stroller or wheelchair user should expect to be helped up them. No official source publishes a step-free gate, a stroller policy or a ramp; ask at the mosque or at Üsküdar Müftülüğü before you go if this matters. No official source describes toilets, baby-changing or seating here.
Getting here
Vehicle
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Road last checked 2026-09-22.
A description of the road, not an assurance about your trip. Conditions change with weather and season.
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Guided tour · skygate
Istanbul Europe and Asia Half-Day Tour: Üsküdar Mosques and Maiden's Tower
A private half-day tour by ferry from Tophane to Üsküdar and Maiden's Tower, stopping at Mihrimah Sultan Mosque and Yeni Valide Mosque along the way. Check the current itinerary and booking details on SkyGate.
Mosque
An imperial mosque of 1708–1711 in central Üsküdar, built for Gülnuş Emetullah Sultan, mother of Ahmed III — a working mosque with a large arcaded courtyard, an octagonal ablution fountain and birdhouses built into its walls. Not the Yeni Cami at Eminönü.
0 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monument
Kız Kulesi (Maiden's Tower), a historic tower on a small islet off Salacak, Üsküdar, at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus — a Ministry of Culture and Tourism monument, reachable only by boat, reopened in May 2023 after restoration.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Historic site
The nineteenth-century Ottoman waterfront palace in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, built for Sultan Abdülmecid and run today as a museum-palace by the Presidency's Directorate General of National Palaces (Milli Saraylar) — the largest palace in Türkiye by the operator's own account.
2 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Historic site
The 15th-century Ottoman imperial palace complex in Sultanahmet, Fatih, run as a palace-museum by the Directorate of National Palaces, comprising outer service quarters, the administrative Divan, the inner Enderûn court and the Harem.
3 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Mihrimah Sultan Mosque and Yeni Valide Mosque are two working mosques a short walk apart in Üsküdar, on Istanbul's Asian shore — one a 1547–48 Mimar Sinan design for a sultan's daughter, the other a mosque that opened in 1711 for a sultan's mother, by an architect no source can confirm with certainty. This guide sets out what official and encyclopedic sources say about each, how visiting works at mosques with no published hours, and the three similarly named mosques neither of these actually is.
Ways to visit
Bookable experiences that include it.
A private half-day tour by ferry from Tophane to Üsküdar and Maiden's Tower, stopping at Mihrimah Sultan Mosque and Yeni Valide Mosque along the way. Check the current itinerary and booking details on SkyGate.