Hacı İlyas Yatağan Mosque
Audio Narration
Construction Year:
15th century
Location:
Fatih, İstanbul
Ordered by:
Hacı İlyas Ağa (Head of Artillery for Mehmed the Conqueror)
Architects:
Unknown
- Changes after its construction
- During the reign of Mehmed III, the mosque was converted into a mosque by adding a minbar in 1598.
- The wooden ceiling of the mosque, which was repaired in 1900-1901, was repaired in 1975. Its restoration was completed by the Foundations in 2008.
- The mosque’s sinks and fountains were renewed in 2015.
- Prominent features
- Its minbar was placed by Kazgancı (Kazancı) İlyas Çelebi in 1598.
- The walls of the square-planned structure are built with three rows of regular stone and two rows of brick. The roof with spiked eaves is covered with tiles. The facade of the two-storey narthex, which was added later in front of the Hacı İlyas Yatağan Mosque, has a different appearance from the other facades because it is covered with wood.
- The harim is entered through a wooden door from the narthex. A section of two rows on the right and left of the entrance door is separated by a wooden railing. A wooden staircase leads to the upper gallery from the right of the door. These stairs have wooden details from the period of Mehmed the Conqueror. The front of the gallery, which is on eight pillars, is closed with a wooden railing and has been turned into a place reserved for women.
- The mihrab is made of marble and the upper part is muqarnas (drop-shaped). The minbar and the preacher’s pulpit in the Hacı İlyas Yatağan Mosque are made of wood. All the walls are covered with paneling up to one meter above the ground.
- There are three windows on the right and left walls, and four windows on the qibla and north walls. All windows are rectangular, and the upper windows have pointed arches. The fourth window on the east side has been closed and turned into a cupboard.
- Hacı İlyas Yatağan Mosque, the stubby minaret made of stone and brick has a cylindrical body and a single balcony. The entrance to the minaret is through the door on the western wall of the women’s gallery.
- There are ablution areas and toilets in the courtyard. Also in the courtyard is the tomb of Topçubaşı İlyas Ağa, whose stone was renewed in 1854, and the tomb of Yatağan Dede to the right of the minaret.
- The mosque is also called “Yatağan Mosque” because as well as it takes its name from its founder, Hacı İlyas Ağa, the “Yatağan” comes from a man named Yatağani Dede lived in this area during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent and caused the Yatağan Fountain to be built.