Mosque

Murat Paşa Mosque

The mosque, which was damaged in a storm in 1640, was also destroyed in the fires that devastated the Aksaray district in 1660 and 1693.
The madrasah to the west of the mosque was demolished by the municipality in 1929-1930. At the beginning of the 20th century, the women’s and the men’s section of the double bathhouse in the east were demolished, and the remaining sections were demolished in 1956 due to road construction.
The mosque was repaired by Architect Vasfi Egeli in 1935. Recently, the interior of the mosque and the narthex were decorated with hand-drawn works.
During the opening of Vatan and Millet streets in 1957-1958, the graveyard was narrowed, the courtyard wall and the fountain were demolished and moved inside; in addition, the tomb, and the fountain of Şirmerd Çavuş Shrine and the Oğlanlar Tekke were moved to the mosque courtyard.

It was built in the form of a mosque with a tabhane (a charity institution established to distribute food to the poor and madrasah students) and consists of two domed units of equal size on the qibla axis and two square-planned domed tabhanes on either side. By keeping the tabhanes lower than the Harim, a stepped appearance was achieved from the outside.
It has five units and pointed arches. The domes carried by six columns are connected by pendentives. Two of the columns are granite with diamond-shaped heads, the others are green porphyry (a type of marble with red or green veins) with muqarnas heads.
Its minaret is located in the northwest corner of the building. The balcony has muqarnas (stalactites) underneath and the garland motif on the upper part (the garland motif formed by tying flowers, leaves or fruits together is depicted hanging with ribbons) shows that the minaret was repaired in the 19th century. There are two undated sundials on the base.
In the graveyard located to the south of the mosque are the graves of important people such as Grand Vizier Mesih Pasha, Kara Davud Pasha, Sheikh al-Islam Pirizade Osman Sahib Effendi and Altıparmak Ibrahim Efendi. The gravestones reflect the decorative style of different centuries.