It was commissioned jointly by the grand vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha and his wife İsmihan Sultan.

[1] According to the foundation inscription in Turkish above the north entrance to the courtyard, the building was completed in AH 979 (1571/72 CE).

Although İsmihan Sultan and her husband jointly endowed the mosque, only Sokollu Mehmed Pasha is listed on the foundation inscription.

The fourth side of the courtyard is the mosque itself, which is designed as a hexagon inscribed in a rectangle, topped by a dome with four small semi-domes in the corners.

[6] The interior of the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque is famous for the İznik tiles, decorated with a wide variety of blue, red and green floral designs, with panels of calligraphy in white thuluth letters on a blue ground.