Erzurum Mosque: A Seljuk-Era Friday Mosque in Türkiye
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.9
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Turkey
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Seljuk
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Mosque
On this page8 sections
History
Erzurum Mosque, also known as Erzurum Grand Mosque, is a 12th-century mosque in Erzurum, Türkiye, built under the Saltuklu principality according to Seljuk architectural principles. Its construction is dated to 1179, during the rule of Melik Nasirüddin Muhammed Bey, who governed from 1174 to 1185. Another chronology places the beginning of construction in 1176 and its completion in 1179. The mosque is described as Erzurum’s oldest and largest mosque and became an enduring center of Islamic worship in the city.
The Saltuklu foundation
The mosque belongs to the period when Erzurum served as the capital of the Saltuklu principality, a medieval Turkish ruling house established in eastern Anatolia after the Seljuk victory at Manzikert. Emir Saltuk founded the principality after conquering Erzurum and the surrounding territory during the Seljuk advance into Anatolia. The Saltuklu rulers introduced Seljuk architectural traditions into the city, and the mosque became one of the clearest surviving expressions of that political and cultural phase.
The building is also known as the Atabeg Mosque or Atabey Mosque. An atabeg was a senior guardian, tutor, or regent connected with a ruling prince. In this case, the alternative name reflects allegiance and respect toward the powerful atabeg Kızıl Arslan. A coin minted in 1189 records Melik Nasirüddin Muhammed Bey’s subordination to Seljuk Sultan Tughril III and to Kızıl Arslan, placing the mosque within the political relationships of the late 12th century.
Ottoman use and wartime damage
During the reign of Ottoman Sultan Murad IV, the mosque was used as a storehouse for food and provisions. Its later history was marked by repeated damage from severe weather, invasions, and wars in the region. During the Russian occupation of Erzurum, valuable interior architectural elements were damaged and the building was used as an animal stable. Iron rings once fixed into the inner walls were associated with tethering animals. Armenian bands later caused further serious damage.
Repairs and continuing religious use
The mosque underwent five major repair campaigns. Erzurum governor Hüseyin Pasha directed work in 1639, Ali Efendi oversaw another repair in 1826, and further campaigns took place in 1858, 1860, and from 1957 to 1964. The last campaign was carried out by the General Directorate of Foundations. Large-scale repairs and local concern helped restore the mosque’s role as a major place of Islamic worship, although some interventions altered or removed original elements, including parts of the roof and features associated with the historic lighting system.
Erzurum Mosque remains the principal gathering place in Erzurum for Friday prayer. It is also used for prayers on sacred nights, Eid prayers, and evening prayers during Ramadan. The local Binbir hatim recitation tradition continues there with substantial participation, maintaining the mosque’s religious importance in the life of the city.
Remains
Plan, entrances, and supports
The mosque has a rectangular hypostyle plan, meaning that its roof is carried by rows of interior supports. Its dimensions are given as approximately 52.5 by 41 metres, while another description gives a plan of 51 by 54 metres. The ground area is stated as 2,152.5 square metres, with an interior usable area of 2,000 square metres. The building stands on Cumhuriyet Avenue in central Erzurum, immediately west of the Çifte Minareli Medrese, with no intervening building between them.
Five doors provide entry, with two on the eastern side and three on the northern side. Each has a different design. The first eastern door is flanked by two small prayer niches, and an inscription recording the 1860 repair is set into its side. Beyond this entrance, the inner southern wall carries a sun-fan pattern made from intermittent red stones. Above the pattern is a retreat chamber measuring three square metres between the inner and outer walls. A small interior doorway and stone stairs lead to it. The chamber was used during the final ten days of Ramadan for itikaf, the Islamic practice of devotional seclusion in a mosque.
The roof is arranged perpendicular to the prayer wall around seven aisles, consisting of a broad central aisle and three aisles on each side. Forty piers support the roof, including sixteen attached to the walls. Twenty free-standing supports are described as L-shaped, T-shaped, or rectangular, while the interior is also recorded as containing forty-seven columns in total. The first interior section has a barrel vault. Two areas at the front of the second section have vaults supported by ten columns, while the third and fourth sections rest on piers.
Dome and lighting system
The principal prayer area is covered by a large dome carried on pointed arches and large pendentives. A pendentive is a curved triangular transition that supports a dome over a square or polygonal space. The central dome has carved stone muqarnas, a three-dimensional system of stepped cells used to form architectural transitions and ornamental surfaces. It occupies the center of the building and includes an opening toward the sky, helping to improve illumination and sound transmission. The description of the building attributes approximately tenfold sound amplification to this arrangement.
A second dome between the central muqarnas dome and the wooden swallow dome also contains an opening toward the sky and contributes to the interior lighting. The original wooden swallow dome is described as surviving in its original form. Its design collects moisture inside the mosque and directs it outdoors. Three small windows open from it toward the east, west, and south. The date 1179 is written in Arabic numerals on the wooden northern part of the swallow covering, using a heated iron instrument.
Four columns carrying the swallow dome are known as the “elephant feet.” High on the two columns toward the prayer direction are two circular “elephant-eye” windows. The left opening is inclined toward the southeast and the right toward the southwest. Their sunlight formed oval shapes on the floor, which became circular at the times of the noon and afternoon prayers. The interior is lit by twenty-eight windows, including the second window on the southern side, which bears an inscription commemorating the 1826 repair.
Prayer wall and minaret
The prayer wall contains three mihrabs, niches that mark the direction of prayer. The central mihrab served the imam, while the two lateral mihrabs, called mihrabiye, were intended for assistant muezzins. A muezzin recites or projects the call to prayer and other prescribed responses, so these side niches supported the communication of the imam’s takbirs, the repeated declarations of God’s greatness, to the congregation.
The mihrab area is covered by a dome carried on five piers. Along the central axis, six rows of pyramidal vaulted sections are filled with muqarnas. The original roof treatment included earth-covered areas outside the main dome. Later repairs removed that covering and introduced roof forms resembling vaults, changing the external expression of the building while retaining its principal structural organization.
A brick minaret stands on the mosque’s right side. It has a cylindrical shaft and a single balcony, and access is provided from inside the mosque. The section above the balcony collapsed and was rebuilt during later repairs. Together with the domes, vaults, piers, carved stonework, wooden elements, and inscriptions, the minaret forms part of the surviving architectural record of Erzurum’s Saltuklu-period mosque.
