Emirgan Mosque (), officially Emirgan Hamid-i Evvel Mosque () is an 18th-century Ottoman

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

located in the

Emirgan Emirgan is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Sarıyer, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 8,052 (2024). It is a leafy, middle-class suburb of Istanbul, on the western shore of the Bosphorus north of the Fatih Sultan Mehm ...

neighborhood of the

Sarıyer Sarıyer () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 177 km2 and its population is 350,454 (2022). It is on the northeastern part of Istanbul's European side. Sarıyer al ...

district in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey. The mosque was built in 1781 by Ottoman Sultan

Abdul Hamid I Abdulhamid I or Abdul Hamid I (, ''`Abdü’l-Ḥamīd-i evvel''; ; 20 March 1725 – 7 April 1789) was the 27th sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1774 to 1789. A devout and pacifist sultan, he inherited a bankrupt empire and sought military r ...

(reigned 1774–1789) in memory of his early-died son Mehmed and the mother of his son Hümaşah Kadınefendi. The mosque is officially named after the sultan's name in Ottoman language. Originally, it was part of a complex consisting of a still-existing square fountain, and non-existent structures like a

Turkish bath A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model ...

, a bakery and a mill. The complex was constructed on the place of a former coastal palace owned by Emirgüneoğlu Yusuf Pasha. The current mosque was rebuilt by Sultan

Mahmud II Mahmud II (, ; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the "Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms ...

(r. 1808–1839), the son of Abdul Hamid I. The architectural style details and the decorations of the mosque comply with the architecture of Empire Period (1808–1876) of the Mahmud II era rather than with the Baroque Period (1757–1808) architecture of the Abdul Hamid I era. Apparently, no part of the mosque building is original except the inscription dating the first construction by Abdul Hamid I in 1871, which is kept on place as a sign of respect. The square-plan mosque was built in a courtyard in

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

masonry with a wooden roof. The big windows in two rows on each side bring natural lighting into the mosque. A cylindrical slim

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

with one balcony erected on a square base is situated south of the mosque. The

Acanthus Acanthus (: acanthus, rarely acanthuses in English, or acanthi in Latin), its feminine form acantha (plural: acanthae), the Latinised form of the ancient Greek word acanthos or akanthos, or the prefix acantho-, may refer to: Biology *Acanthus ...

-type foliage ornaments and other decorations on the minaret, typical of 19th-century minarets, indicate that it underwent modifications. A two-story sultan's pavilion is attached to the mosque's eastern wall with a separate entrance. A

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets; an oriel window is a bay window that does not touch the g ...

, supported by six columns, served as relaxation room for the sultan. According to a two-line poetic inscription written in

Thuluth ''Thuluth'' (, ' or , '; , ''Sols''; Turkish: ''Sülüs'', from ' "one-third") is an Arabic script variety of Islamic calligraphy. The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new script by curved and oblique lines. In ''Thuluth'', ...

on top of the

shadirvan A shadirvan (, , ) is a type of fountain that is usually built in the courtyard or near the entrance of mosques, caravanserais, khanqahs, and madrasas, with the main purpose of providing water for drinking or ritual ablutions to several peop ...

situated at the northern corner of the mosque's courtyard, it was endowed by Rebgigül Hanım, the head of female servants in the house of Mümtaz Kadın, a spouse of

Wali The term ''wali'' is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God".John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); John ...

and

Khedive Khedive ( ; ; ) was an honorific title of Classical Persian origin used for the sultans and grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire, but most famously for the Khedive of Egypt, viceroy of Egypt from 1805 to 1914.Adam Mestyan"Khedive" ''Encyclopaedi ...

Ottoman Egypt Ottoman Egypt was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517. The Ottomans administered Egypt as a province (''eyalet'') of their empire (). It remained formally an Ottoman prov ...

Kavalalı Mehmet Ali Pasha (r. 1805–1848).

Gallery

File:EmirganMosque (8).jpg, Northwestern façade and main entrance. File:EmirganMosque (7).jpg,

Shadirvan A shadirvan (, , ) is a type of fountain that is usually built in the courtyard or near the entrance of mosques, caravanserais, khanqahs, and madrasas, with the main purpose of providing water for drinking or ritual ablutions to several peop ...

in the courtyard of the mosque. File:EmirganMosque (11).jpg, Square fountain as part of Emirgan Mosque.

References

{{commons category, Emirgan Hamid-i Evvel Camii Ottoman mosques in Istanbul Religious buildings and structures completed in 1781 Sarıyer Bosphorus Mosques completed in the 1780s 1781 establishments in the Ottoman Empire 19th-century architecture