Mehmet Kethuda Mosque
- Changes after its construction
- The mosque has undergone many restorations; the prayer hall was expanded to the north with three concrete columns.
- A women’s gallery was added to the east wall and an exit was provided to the gallery via a staircase from the narthex.
- After the adoption of the modern Turkish alphabet in 1929, it was used as a National School for a while to teach the public how to read and write.
- The zigzag patterned brick body of the minaret is covered with plaster.
- Prominent Features
- Büyükdere Mosque is also known as Kara Mehmet Kethüda Mosque and Kara Kethüda Mosque.
- It was built as a two-storey building with masonry walls and a wooden roof.
- It contains a transverse rectangular area at the front and another rectangular area extended by three columns connected to it. There are three rows of recessed windows at the top and two rows at the bottom on the east and west facades; there are four windows in two rows on the mihrab wall.
- Its mihrab is completely covered with Kütahya tiles and its minbar is made of plain wood.
- In the northwest, the minaret, whose base is inside the building, is accessed from the main room; the cylindrical body is decorated with a zigzag arrangement of bricks.
- Next to the mosque, there is a small cemetery where its founder, Mehmed Agha, is believed to be buried.
