Kocatepe Mosque

The largest mosque in the Turkish capital dominates a hill in central Ankara, its four minarets and cascading domes visible across much of the city. Built between the 1960s and late 1980s in a deliberately classical Ottoman style modelled on the great mosques of Istanbul and Edirne, it can hold tens of thousands of worshippers. A vast prayer hall gleams with chandeliers, calligraphy and a marble mihrab, while a shopping arcade and car park occupy the levels below. As a modern landmark echoing tradition, it anchors the capital's religious life.