Baba Nakkaş Mosque
- Changes after its construction:
- It has undergone various restorations over 450 years.
- Additional structures and arrangements around the mosque cover a large area. Thus, the area of the mosque has been expanded.
- Prominent Features:
- The mosque was built on the area given as property by Mehmed the Conqueror.
- It has a double narthex and a mihrab adorned with muqarnas.
- There is a semi-open narthex supported by wooden pillars.
- There are structures such as a cemetery, a tomb, a fountain and a washing station in its surroundings.
- Thanks to conservation and restoration works, it has largely preserved its historical texture.
- Baba Nakkaş, with his real name Muhammed ibn Şeyh Bayezid, was a nakkaş (miniaturist) close to the palace during the reigns of Mehmed the Conqueror and Bayezid II. It is stated that he was of Uzbek origin and had superior talents in the science of minitature. In 1466, the village of Kutlubey (Nakkaşköy) near Çatalca was given to him as property by Mehmed the Conqueror, and his foundation deed dated 1475 includes information about the mosque he built there. He is seen as an important name in the development of Ottoman palace embroidery workshops, and the decorative style of the period was defined as the “Baba Nakkaş Style”. Baba Nakkaş’s tomb is in Üsküdar.
