Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque

This guide to the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque in Istanbul begins with an assassin reaching the Ottoman grand vizier on the eleventh of October, 1579. It follows the vizier's earlier life as Bajica, a Serbian shepherd's son taken by the devşirme and raised as Mehmed, who rose to command the imperial fleet, govern Rumelia, and marry into the sultan's family. Look for the four small gilded frames set around the mosque, said to each hold a fragment of the Black Stone of Mecca.