Gentile Bellini · Public domain
15th century · 1432–1481
Mehmed II
Fatih Sultan Mehmed · Türkiye
Ottoman sultan, 'the Conqueror'
Born in Edirne, he twice became Ottoman sultan. In 1453, aged 21, he besieged and took Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire; he then turned Hagia Sophia into a mosque, and the city became the new Ottoman capital.
Where the story happened
Places connected with this person
History · Old Istanbul: Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar
A 21-year-old conqueror and a 13-year-old sultan
In 1453 the 21-year-old Ottoman sultan Mehmed II besieged Constantinople with a great army and took the city, ending the Byzantine Empire; Hagia Sophia was promptly converted into a mosque. A century and a half later, in 1603, Ahmed I came to the throne aged 13; opposite Hagia Sophia he built the Sultan Ahmed Mosque — the 'Blue Mosque' — completed in 1616; he died the following year.
