Kapı Ağası Mosque

Audio Narration

Construction Year:

1553

Location:

Fatih, İstanbul

Ordered by:

Babüssaade Agha (The Door of Felicity) Mahmud Agha

Architects:

Mimar Sinan

- Changes after its construction
  •  It was damaged in the fires in 1766 and 1825 and rebuilt.
  •  It was renovated again after the Hocapaşa fire in 1895.
  •  In 2024, the graveyard wall was repaired, the gravestones were cleaned and the area was
    planted.
- Prominent features
  •  The mosque, built as a “fevkani” (elevated, upper-storey), has a roof and is tiled.
  •  The narthex is entered from the street with a few steps. The upper gallery is also exited from
    here.
  •  The main prayer area is accessed from the narthex with a door.
  •  Its ceiling is flat and made of wood like the minbar; however, it is thought to have been domed
    when it was first built. Its minbar is made of wood.
  •  It is also known as the “Ağa Mosque” or “Mahmud Ağa Mosque”.
  •  There are long windows on the right and left of the mihrab, and 3 on the right and left walls.
  •  There are large cells with windows in the basement, used as storage.
  •  Its walls are made of cut stone and plastered on the outside.
  •  The single-balcony minaret on the right side is made of brick.
  •  The benefactor of the mosque is buried in the graveyard. The graveyard, located on the
    outside of the mosque by the roadside, covers a rectangular area; the head stones of the
    graves are mostly found in this area. There are twelve gravestones with various forms of
    cylindrical, pointed and headed.
  •  The mosque was built as a small complex consisting of a madrasah, primary school and a
    fountain. Nothing remains of the madrasah and primary school today; when you pass to the
    street behind the mosque, you can see the arched basement windows. However, the basement
    cannot be seen because the inside of the windows are covered with bricks.
  •  The mosque inscription is in Persian and indicates the year of construction, 1553.