Changes After Construction
The complex containing the mosque was seriously affected by major disasters in Istanbul, including the earthquakes of 1648 and 1763 and the fires of 1782 and 1918.
After the Cibali-Fatih fire of 1918, the mosque remained neglected for a long period and was used as a storage place for materials until the 1960s.
Following partial restoration works carried out in 1976, it was reopened for worship.
It acquired its present form through comprehensive restoration works carried out by the General Directorate of Foundations in 1991.
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The Hâfız Ahmed Pasha Complex was built as a külliye consisting of a mosque, madrasa, library, dârülkurrâ, tomb, sebil, fountain, and primary school. The buildings of the complex were constructed of ashlar stone.
The mosque has a rectangular plan. In the central section there is a large dome, with two square spaces covered by smaller domes on either side. Adjacent to the courtyard, the mosque has a simple and elegant structure in the classical Ottoman style.
The minaret is located to the right of the central space; it was rebuilt in the Baroque style after the earthquake of 1763. Relief motifs are found on the railing of its balcony.
Although Hadım Hâfız Ahmed Pasha, the patron of the mosque, is often compared in history with Müezzinzâde Hâfız Ahmed Pasha (1564–1632), one of the grand viziers of Sultan Murad IV’s reign, they were two different people.
The tomb of Hadım Hâfız Ahmed Pasha, who held important state offices during the reign of Sultan Mehmed III, including deputy grand vizier, is located next to the mosque.
The story that Hadım Hâfız Ahmed Pasha saw in a dream Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror scolding him and ordering his execution for building a mosque too close to the Fatih Mosque, that he died seventy days after this dream, and that a stone breaking from the edge of the grave cut his head as he was being buried, holds an important place in Istanbul folklore.
