Introduction

After Greece came under Ottoman rule, it was visited by the Fatih personally and showed great

interest in Orthodox people who had been persecuted by Latins for years. When they first entered

Athens, they found the Parthenon temple in the acropolis converted into a church by the latins and

converted many churches into mosques. While doing this, they got a lot of inspiration from Byzantine

religious architecture. They repaired the emptied and ruined cities. One of these churches, one of

these churches, was built a little ahead of the Mustafa Ağa mosque, and the Fethiye mosque was

built in dimetoka by the architect of the green mosque in the bursa, ivaz pasha, in a very similar style.

I chose these mosques because of these features and similarities.

Fethiye Mosque

(photo 1 fethiye mosque source https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/dunya/atina-camisiz-baskent-tarihi-fethiye-camisi-

ise-sergi-salonu-/1861748)

(photo 2 fethiye mosque plan source https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/172673)

This mosque, which rises from the edge of the ancient agora, was hidden in a military building for a

long time, and this ruin was unearthed for the removal of the building for excavations in the agora.

First this mosque had a lot of controversy about it to be demolished, then it was finally abandoned

and under repair. Reportedly, the Egyptian provision was transferred to be used as a mosque again

after this time.

It is very difficult to predict when this temple, which does not have an epigraph, belongs. If you look

at the name of Fethiye here, this mosque is about conquest and Fatih, this reason is the 15th century

work.

This mosque, whose main feature has changed considerably during the restoration carried out in

recent years, does not have a minaret today, and the column heads of the last congregation place

with a dome are plain. Although the mosque is used in some places, it is mainly made of crushed

stones. The metal facade, which follows the place of the round and arched last congregation, has a

proportional and harmonious order. There are two windows with pointed arched arches, with a

mihrab with stalactites between them, on both sides of the front door with marble jambs. On the

side walls, there are two rows of windows with straight jambs at the bottom and pointed brick arches

at the top. The most striking aspect of the Fethiye mosque is undoubtedly the system used in the

construction of the main space.

This main space, which is completely square in shape, is covered by a dome with a flattened

hexagonal rim carried by four columns in the middle, but this main dome is supported by another

semi-dome on all four sides. The places on the corners are covered with a small dome. With this

interesting dome system, all of which is covered with tiles, the Fethiye mosque is one of the smallest

examples of the architectural type used directly in Istanbul's major temples such as Şehzade,

Sultanahmet, Yeni Cami and the İkinci Fatih Mosque. If this mosque actually belongs to the era of

Fatih, it undoubtedly gains a prime value in terms of Turkish art history. Thanks to the inscription, the

presence of the Toğan Bey mosque in Demotika, which was determined to be built by the architect of
the Green Mosque in Bursa (1420), increases the importance of this important problem of Turkish

art.

In short, if it can be proved that the Fethiye mosque in Athens belongs to the 15th century, it would

be appropriate to admit that the first examples of a system successfully implemented in the time of

Mimar Sinan were created even in the middle of the 15th century, perhaps even by ivaz Pasha.

Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han Mosque

(photo 3 çelebi sultan mehmed han mosque plan source https://okuryazarim.com/erken-osmanli-donemi-

mimari-planlari/dimetoka-celebi-sultan-mehmet-camii/ )

(photo 4 çelebi sultan mehmed han mosque source https://okuryazarim.com/klasik-osmanli-donemi-mimari-

planlari/rum-mehmed-pasa-camisi-istanbul-plan-e-h-ayverdi/)

It is located in the center of the town of Dimetoka, about 30 kilometers south of Edirne, in the

Western Thrace region of northern Greece. It is reported in the inscription above the gate that the

building was built in 1420. In the second inscription on the side door of the mosque, it is stated that

Ivaz Pasha completed the mosque with the help of Dimetoka Judge Seyyid Ali and Haslılı Doğan

Abdullah. This great work in Dimetoka was completed in a hurry upon the death of its founder Çelebi

Sultan Mehmed in May 1421.

Evliya Çelebi (February 1668) said that the mosque, which he saw when he came to Dimetoka, had

four masonry pillars, a dome hidden inside a lead-covered wooden roof, a high and ornamented

minaret, but it did not have an external prayer. Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Mosque is a large building

with an external face of cut stone with dimensions of 32.42 × 29.94 meters, but it does not have a

final congregation place and courtyard. The main crown gate is in a pointed arch decorated with

zigzag reliefs and the upper arch is made of double colored stones. Inside the arch, there are niches

in the form of muqarnas niche on both sides.

Rum Mehmed Paşa Mosque

(photo 5 rum mehmed paşa mosque plan source https://okuryazarim.com/klasik-osmanli-donemi-mimari-

planlari/rum-mehmed-pasa-camisi-istanbul-plan-e-h-ayverdi/)

(Photo 6 rum mehmed paşa mosque source https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/rum-mehmed-pasa-kulliyesi)

Rum Mehmed Pasha became the grand vizier Mehmed II in 1466. The mosque is located inÜsküdar.

The written plate of the mosque, which is made up of Arabic, dates the building to 1471. It was

completely restored in 1953. Adjacent buildings, madrasahs, baths and soup kitchens were also built

in the 15th century. The madrasah is no longer available, while some walls remain from the

bathroom and soup kitchen. The mosque quarter still bears the name of the grand vizier.

The mosque consists of a square central hall stretched with a half bay in the south and a five-bay
veranda consisting of four rooms surrounding the central hall to the east and west. Marble columns

are crowned with oval cross-section heads. Two steps lead to the domed central hall, passing

through the mukarnas portal. The dome with a diameter of 11.15 meters is transported suspended.

In the south, the mihrab is placed in a rectangular extension of the central hall, which is raised with a

step and covered with a semi-dome. This arrangement was first used in the original Fatih Mosque.

The half dome in Rum Mehmed Pasha is carried on the stalactite trumpets that hang towards the

corners of the walls in accordance with the six rows of stalactites crowning the mihrab. The women's

sanctuary on both sides of the door at the entrance was doubled with wooden platforms that cut the

entrance with a narrow balcony. Side hospice rooms, equipped with niches with fireplaces and

shelves, open directly to the central hall and inside. During the restoration, the plaster was removed

from the walls to reveal the decoration of the period.

Although the plan, the interior decoration and the portico to some extent are Ottoman style, the

exterior appearance of the mosque is from the Byzantine period. The dome of the Rum Rum Pasha

Mosque, where most of the Ottoman mosques use polygonal drums, sits on a circular drum, a

common feature of the Byzantine churches. Loaded on a square base, the load is carried over arches

on three sides and a forward-facing semi-dome. These thick brick arches, complemented by skylights,

peak on the resulting roof, creating a wavy effect along the cornice line. The arched frames of the

drum windows likewise extend beyond the skirts of the dome. These unusual domes are covered

with lead, peculiar to Ottoman mosques. The construction of the mosque is cut stone and the base

and the pulley of the dome are inserted in rows of bricks.There is a single minaret in the northwest

corner.

Comparison
Unlike other mosques, Fethiye mosque does not have a minaret. Column capitals are plain, like the

Mustafa Ağa Mosque, which is around it. Although brick was used as a material, it was mainly built

with crushed stone. Pointed brick arched windows are used The most important feature of Fethiye

mosque is the structure and technique used in its construction. The main dome, which is square, has

a main dome supported by four columns in the middle, and this main dome is supported by semi-

domes on 4 sides, and there are small domes on the spaces in the corners. Tile is used completely in

this dome system. Similar systems of this system have been used in Şehzade, Sultanahmed, Yeni

Mosque and second Fatih mosques in Istanbul. Make a demotika in Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Khan

Mosque, a little different from the same system. Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Khan Mosque is also used in

cut stone, there is no last congregation place like in Fethiye Mosque, but there is no courtyard in this

mosque. As in the Fethiye Mosque, there are stone ornaments and pointed arches at the entrance.

The main space is again square. If we talk about the similarity in the system with the Fethiye mosque,

there is an opinion that the founder of the mosque could not be completed due to the death of the

mosque during its construction. In fact, it was designed as a structure covered with a main dome

supported by four semi-domes on all four sides, like in the Fethiye mosque, but because of the death

of its founder, it was quickly closed with a wooden dome and hidden with a pyramid-shaped roof.

Unlike the others, in the Rum Mehmed Pasha Mosque, the main dome is supported by only one half

dome. The main place is not square but round. Cut stone and brick were used as materials, similar to

the other two mosques. The form of the arches is again sharp, similar to other mosques. While these

two mosques built in Greece have elements very close to the Ottoman architecture, the rum

mehmed pasha mosque built in Istanbul resembles the Byzantine architecture more due to features

such as the use of bricks, wavy eaves and a round pulley.

My Thought
 As far as I understand, Ottoman architecture has always been influenced by other cultures and has a

culture that is open to change because it has added something to it from every place it has reached.

He has enriched his culture by switching between the horseshoe arches and pointed arches that he

bought from Islamic architecture, by swanting brick rather than stone, placing the dome on a square

drum instead of the usual polygon hoop, but preserving its own interior style .

References

Semavi Eyice, Yunastandaki Türk Mimarisi, sayfa 161-162

https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/172673

https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/celebi-sultan-mehmed-camii--dimetoka

https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/rum-mehmed-pasa-kulliyesi

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