Süleymaniye Mosque: Part of the buildings of the külliye, perhaps the school for Hadith

Widely recognized as one of the premier monuments of Ottoman architecture, the mosque was built above the Golden Horn on a hilltop site. In 1557 Sinan completed an immense külliye on 15 acres (over 7 ha, 250 x 350 m) of the grounds of the old palace in the centre of Istanbul for Süleyman (reigned 1520-1566). In addition to the congregational mosque and its two mausolea, the main buildings include four madrasas, a preparatory school, a medical college, a school for Hadith, a hospital, a caravanserai, a public kitchen and a bath. Rows of small shops and coffee-houses were set in the undercrofts and vaults, and there were stables and a park for caravans. No other complex of this magnitude (it had more than 525 cupolas) was ever built again.