The size of the mosque is the same as that of the princes of Soleïmán. The court is a square paved with marble, and has stone benches running along the four sides. The windows are guarded with brass gratings: in the centre of the square plays a fountain of the purest water, for the use of the faithful: it is however only used for drinking, not for ablutions. The court has three gates. The kibla gate, facing the chief entrance and mehráb of the mosque, is a masterpiece of art, being of solid brass, twelve feet high, and the astonishment of all who behold it. On the brass plates which form this gate are carved oranges and arabesques, intermingled with flowers of pure silver and with precious stones, and ornamented with rings, locks, and bars of silver. It is indeed a most wonderful gate. Some say that it was brought from Osterghún (Grán), where it adorned the Roman church; but this is a mistake, for the famous gate at Osterghún was carried off when the infidels retook that city, and it now adorns, as the chief-door, the church of St. Stephen at Vienna. The gate of this mosque was made under the superintendence of my father, Dervísh Mohammed, at the time when he was chief of the goldsmiths. The two inscriptions on brass were engraved by his own hand. On the outside of the windows of the court there are several covered porches supported by small columns, in which, when the assembly within is too great, many of the faithful perform their devotions; and the Hindú fakírs find shelter. The six lofty minárs of this mosque are divided into sixteen stories, because it is the sixteenth royal mosque of Islámból, and the founder of it, Sultán Ahmed, was the sixteenth of the Ottoman emperors. Two minárs rise on the right and left of the mehráb, two others on the north and south gates of the court, each three stories high, which make in all twelve stories. The roofs and gilded crescents, which are twenty cubits high, dazzle the eye with their splendour. The two minárs on the corners of the court are lower and have only two stories; their roofs are covered with lead. On the sacred nights these six minárs are lighted up with 12,000 lamps, so that they resemble as many fiery cypresses. The cupolas are all covered with lead. This mosque being richly founded, has seven hundred and fifty attendants attached to it. The tribute of Ghalata and many other pious bequests (wakf) constitute its revenue. The outside of the court is a large sandy level planted with trees, and surrounded by a wall which has eight gates. On the north is the gate of the college, and near it is the mausoleum of Sultán Ahmed. Three gates open towards the At-maidán (Hippodrome). All these gates are made of iron like those of a fortress. On the south-east of the At-maidán are the pious establishments belonging to the mosque, the kitchen for the poor (imáret), the dining-hall (dár-uz-zíáfat), the hospital (tímár-kháneh), and the fountain-house (sebíl-kháneh).