Süleyman the Magnificent built this square-shaped mosque between 1543 and 1548 as a memorial to his son Mehmet, who died of smallpox in 1543 at the age of 22. It was the first important mosque to be designed by Mimar Sinan and has a lovely garden setting, two double-balconied minarets and attractive exterior decoration. Inside, the central dome is supported by four semidomes (one on each side of the square).
Among the many important people buried in tile-encrusted tombs on the mosque's eastern side are Prince Mehmet, his brothers and sisters and two of Süleyman's grand vezirs: Rüstem Paşa and İbrahim Paşa. Other still-surviving parts of the külliye include a partially demolished medrese and a tabhane (inn for travelling dervishes) that is now used as a laboratory by the neighbouring Vefa Lycée.
