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Trabzon


Mosques    EN

Author: EMIROGLU KUDRET
History of mosques

The first action of the Ottoman sultans after a conquest was to convert the cathedral of each town into a Friday prayer mosque, where the ‘hutbe’ was read in the name of the sovereign sultan. This was the case in Trabzon too, where the Theotokos Chrysokephalos monastery was converted into a mosque (today the Fatih Camii).

There are 8 converted churches today (the conversions taking place in 1461, 1486/1532, 1523/1553, 1557, 1572, 1665, 1953 and 1965 respectively) and one dervish lodge (converted in 1923) serving as mosques. The conversions could be explained by the increase of the Muslim population up to a majority by the 16th century, whereas, in the late 17th century, Islam began to be used as a political force. After the National Salvation War [Turkish War of Independence] and the emigration of the non-muslim populations,, the churches were abandoned, mostly used for non-religous activities as the Muslim population of the city was diminished too., Those churches not destroyed or ruined were converted in time into mosques.

The city life during the classical Ottoman period flourished around the mosques where the Friday prayers were performed and these mosques were called either grand mosques, central mosques or bazaar mosques. If the settlement was as big and important enough as Trabzon had been, the public edifices such as the medreses, the bedestens (vaulted bazaars), fountains or hans (in-wall caravansarays) were built being mostly financed by pious foundations. Moreover, civil life revolved around the mahale/district mosques. Trabzon had been one of the administrative centres where the people brought from other cities of the Ottoman Empire settled, registered and organized their lives around these mosques (the Christian districts were also named after their churches). So we know today the districts named after such mosques and therefore learn about the first settlements after the conquest, though we do not know the whereabouts of all these mosques/districts and we have have no tangible traces for some of them (as for the 1523 Mahalle-i Mescid-i Kıssıhan, the Mahalle-i Mescid-i Mevlana Şüca, the Mahalle-i Mescid-i Ali Baba, etc.).

Trabzon has been a ‘şehzade sancağı’, the administrative province centre where one of the princes served as governor; so the foundations built by the dynasty members, as well as the high-ranked bureaucrats and the wealthy, were not absent. Today nothing else survives from the first era of the Ottoman rule apart from the religous/sacred [places], the mosques.

Thirty mosques can be identified between 1486-1583 in Trabzon while according to the Trabzon Vilayet Salname, there were 44 mosques in the city in 1879. [1] But as in the classical era, there is also no list in the modern years inherited by the Ottomans and it is always possible to come across a small mosque (mescid) in the archive documents (and the şeriyye sicilleri – court registeres), not mentioned in the district names or anywhere else.

There were many mosques rebuilt, ruined or destroyed during the Ottoman times and this mentality still goes on, especially with the implementation of the modern city plans, for which historical buildings of any kind can be seen as an obstruction, mainly for the construction of new roads, which the classical district life did not need.

Nu

Name

Notes –Date

C, R, Rb, Nt [2]

1

Fatih Camii (Theotokos Chrysokephalos monastery)

Inscription 914. The modern plan reveals a 12th century intervention. It was the cathedral of the city. Converted by Fatih in 1461. Repaired in 1877.

C

2

İçkale Camii

1470. By prince Abdullah’s mother when he was the governor. Repaired in 1869, 1891, minaret added in 1963.

 
 

Şirin Hatun Mescidi

Probably first built in 1470. Rebuilt in late 19th c. Destroyed in 2002 for road construction.

Nt

3

Yeni Cuma Camii (St Eugenios Monastry)

Built in the name of the patron saint of Trabzon. Not known when first built, there is an inscription dated 1291. The surviving building is of the 14th century. Converted between 1486-1523.

C

4

Gülbahar Hatun Camii

1514. Built by Yavuz Sultan Selim for his mother when he was the governor. Repaired in 1883. The complex and surrounding cemetery was destroyed in 1937, leaving only the mosque.

 

5

Sarmaşıklı Camii / Mescid-i Sarmaşık/ Kemerkaya

Komnenos-built, converted between 1523-53, ground floor was a shpo transformed to a fountain in 1992.

C

6

Amasya Camii

1523. Destroyed after 1937 with remaining walls.

R

7

Mescid-i Hüseyin Ağa / Saray Atik

1523. Sold by the municipality in 1953 and destroyed.

Nt

8

Mescid-i Mevlana Şüca

1523. No mention after 1583.

Nt

9

Mescid-i Hacı Baba

1523. Destroyed.

Nt

10

Mescid-i Kısshan

1523. Destroyed in the 20th c.

R

11

İskender Paşa Camii

1529. By the governor İskender Paşa.

 

12

Erdoğdu Camii

1537. By the order of the sultan by Erdoğan Bey rebuilt in 1557. Repaired in 1899, 1970.

Rb

13

Hasan Ağa Camii

1548. Repaired in 1884-85.

 

14

Hoca Halil Camii

1553. Rebuilt in 1896. Altered in 1963.

Rb

15

Hacı Kasım Camii

1553. Rebuilt in 1839 by the governor and notable Hazinedarzade Osman Paşa.

Rb

16

Yalı Camii

In 1553 Mescid-i Hoca Alizade Mehmed Çelebi/ Faroz Camii. Rebuilt in 1874. Destroyed and a new mosque built in 1969.

Rb

17

Mescid-i Ahmet Çelebi

1553. No mention after 1583.

Nt

18

Eksotha Mescidi / Hızırbey Camii

1553-1562. Rebuilt in 1798. Repaired in 1837, 1859, 1903.

Rb.

19

Molla Siyah Camii / Nakib Camii (St. Andrew Church)

Dated 11th c. Komnenos-built, converted before 1557.

C

20

Şeyh Sinan Mescidi

Only mentioned between 1557-1566.

Nt

21

Süleyman Bey/ Kabakmeydanı/ İncirlik Camii

1550?. Rebuilt İncirlik Camii in its place.

Rb

22

Pazarkapı Camii

1563. Altered in 1793, repaired in 1852. Destroyed and completely rebuilt in 1987.

Rb

23

Tabakhane Camii

Built between 1565-1583. Repaired in 1650, 1888. Destroyed in 1979, completely rebuilt in 1987.

Rb

24

Boyahane Mescidi

1565. No mention.

Nt

25

Hagia Sophia monastry

Assumed to be built by Manuel I., in 1250-1260. The bell tower was built in 1427. Converted into a mosque in 1572/73. Had extensive repair in 1864. Used as a military depot and hospital during the First World War and then again as a mosque. A museum after the 1958-61 restoration. Converted into a mosque in 2014.

C

26

Mescid-i Ahmet Paşa

1583. No mention.

Nt

27

Mescid-i Bayram Çelebi

1583. No mention

Nt

28

Küçük Fatih Camii / Kindinar Camii (St Akindynos Church)

Komnenos church converted before 1665.

C

29

Kudrettin Camii (St Philip)

Komnenos-built, cathedral in 1461, inscription 1506, converted 1665.

C

30

Zeytinlik Camii

Foundatios discovered in 1958

C

31

Mumhane Camii

 

C

32

Musa Paşa Camii

1668.

 

33

Hamza Paşa Camii

1748

 

34

Semerciler Camii

1759. Repaired in 1821.

 

35

Konak Camii

18th c. Repaired in 1883-4.

 

36

Müftü Camii

18th c. Destroyed and completely rebuilt in 1967.

Rb

37

Hacı Yahya Camii

1781

 

38

Çarşı Camii

1839. Built by Hazinedarzade Osman Paşa, a governor and notable.

 

39

Hacı Salih Camii

1860.

 

40

Orta Saray Mescidi

1866. Built by the donation of Abdülaziz.

 

41

Tavanlı Camii

In 1562 Ketani Mescidi. Built on its spot in 1874. Repaired in 1890.

Rb

42

Askeri Camii

1882. Built in the barracks by Hasan Paşa.

 

43

Ahi Evren Camii

1890, dedicated to a legandary person. Tomb rebuilt in 1976.

 

44

Kemerkaya Merkez Camii

19th c. Church converted in 1965.

C

45

Tahtalı Camii

19th c. Altered significantly by repairments.

 

46

Tekke Camii

Late 19th c. Said to be a dervish lodge built in 1591.

 

47

Gözaçan Camii

Early 20th c. Destroyed in 1986. Completely rebuilt in 1992.

Rb

48

İncirlik Camii

Early 20th c. Destroyed in the 1970’s, completely rebuilt in 1977-80.

Rb

49

Mustafa Efendi Mescidi

1908. Altered as a house in 1954.

R

50

Hatuncuk Hatun Camii

Built as a dervish lodge in 1523, converted into a mosque in 1923.

 

51

Hüsnü Göktuğ Paşa Camii/ Çömlekçi Camii

Komnenos church. Converted in 1953.

C

 


[1]Trabzon Vilayet Salnamesi, 1296/ 1879, V. 11, p. 122.

[2] C: converted; R: ruin or remnants present, Rb: completely rebuilt, Nt: no trace.


References

Açık Turan; “Mahalle ve Camii: Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Mahalle Tipleri Hakkında Trabzon Üzerinden Bir Değerlendirme”, OTAM, 2014, 35, 1-39.

Bryer, A. A. M. and David Winfield; The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos, Dumbarton Oaks Studies, Washington D.C., 1985.

[Eldem], Halil Edhem; Trabzon’da Osmanlı Kitabeleri, haz. İsmail Hacıfettahoğlu, Trabzon Belediyesi Kültür Y., Trabzon, 2001.

Kansız, İsmail (ed.); Trabzon Kent İçi Kültür Varlıkları Envanteri, Trabzon Kültür ve Turizm Md. Y., Trabzon, 2010.

Karpuz, Haşim; “Trabzon’da Yok Olan Türk Devri Eserleri”, Sanat Tarihi Yıllığı, Nu: 12, İstanbul, 1983, 95-116.

Karpuz, Haşim; Trabzon, Kültür Bakanlığı Y., Ankara, 1990.

Mehmed Aşıkî; Menâzırü’l-Evâlim, ed. Mahmut Ak, Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara, 2007.

Trabzon Vilayeti; Trabzon Vilayet Salnamesi, 1296 (1879), V. 11, Kudret Emiroğlu, Trabzon İli ve İlçeleri Eğitim, Kültür ve Sosyal Yardımlaşma Vakfı, Ankara, 1999.

Tuluk, Ömer İskender ve Halil İbrahim Düzenli (ed.); Trabzon Kent Mirası, Yer, Yapı, Hafıza, Klasik Y., İstanbul, 2010.

Tuluk, Ömer İskender ve Halil İbrahim Düzenli ve Evrim Düzenli; “Yitik Mirasın İzinde: Trabzon’da Osmanlı Cami ve Mescidleri (1461-1583)”, Trabzon Kent Mirası, Yer, Yapı, Hafıza, Tuluk, Ömer İskender ve Halil İbrahim Düzenli (ed.), Klasik Y., İstanbul, 2010, 55-92.


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