İsa Bey Mosque: An Aydinid Monument at Selçuk
Site at a Glance
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- 4.7
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- Country
- Turkey
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Unclassified
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Mosque
On this page8 sections
History
İsa Bey Mosque is a pre-Ottoman mosque in Selçuk, Türkiye, built by the Aydinid emirate in 1374–1375. Commissioned by Aydınoğlu İsa Bey, one of the dynasty’s rulers, it is one of the oldest surviving architectural works of the Anatolian beyliks and the most important surviving Aydinid monument at Ayasoluk. Its design reflects the prosperity of the city under Aydinid rule.
Aydinid construction
The Aydinids were a Turkmen dynasty that governed an Anatolian beylik before the consolidation of Ottoman power. İsa Bey Mosque was commissioned by İsa Bey ibn Muhammad and designed by Şamlı Dımışklıoğlu Ali, a Syrian or Damascene architect. An inscription above the western entrance gives the construction date as 1374, corresponding to 776 AH, and the mosque was inaugurated in January 1375. Its plan was based principally on the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.
Ayasoluk was the Seljuk and Ottoman successor to Byzantine Ephesus, also known as Hagios Theologos. The mosque was built on the slopes of Ayasoluk between the Temple of Artemis and the Byzantine-Turkish fortification, near the Church of Saint John and the Temple of Artemis. It belongs to the historical archaeological setting of Ephesus and is associated with the Aydinid period.
Later use and repair
By 1829, İsa Bey Mosque had become a ruin. One of its minarets had fallen by 1842, and during the nineteenth century the building was used as a caravanserai. Its original religious function was later restored. A doorway was opened in the prayer niche, while the muqarnas crown of the mihrab, a recessed niche marking the direction of prayer, was removed and transferred to Kestane Pazari Mosque in İzmir. The niche was subsequently walled up. Repairs took place in 1934, followed by further restoration during the second half of the twentieth century.
The mosque is an important surviving example of pre-Ottoman religious architecture. It is also described as only the second Anatolian mosque from this period to have two minarets, a feature that places it within the architectural development of the beyliks before Ottoman consolidation.
Remains
Courtyard and entrances
İsa Bey Mosque occupies an asymmetrical rectangular base measuring approximately 56.5 metres from north to south and 48.7 metres from east to west. The plan has two unequal parts, a northern courtyard surrounded by porticoes and a southern prayer hall measuring about 18 by 48 metres. An octagonal fountain stands at the centre of the courtyard. The portico that formerly bordered the northern, eastern, and western sides is largely lost, although twelve columns survive, many formed from spolia, architectural elements reused from earlier buildings.
The monumental western portal faces toward the sea and stands at the southern end of the western portico, close to the prayer hall. Its entrance includes a staircase, a fountain niche, and a muqarnas-vaulted covering. Two dedicatory inscriptions were associated with the portal: the exterior inscription has been lost, while the interior one survives. Two further entrances lead into the courtyard, one on the eastern side opposite the main portal and another at the centre of the northern side.
Prayer hall
The northern entrance to the prayer hall consists of a triple arcade topped by two pointed-arch windows that frame a round window. Four massive black-granite columns divide the hall lengthwise. Three have stalactite-form capitals, while the fourth carries a reused composite Roman capital.
Two domes cover the central part of the prayer hall along the axis between the entrance and the prayer niche. They rest on brick arches, with the dome over the niche slightly smaller than the other. Their diameters are approximately 9.4 metres and 8.1 metres. The rims were decorated with Iznik tiles in turquoise and dark blue. Windows occur at irregular intervals about two-thirds of the way up the prayer-hall walls.
Walls, decoration, and minaret
The walls are built of plain cut masonry, while the western facade is faced with marble. That facade contains carved inscriptions and geometric forms, and its windows have coloured wedge-shaped stones and sculpted frames with polychrome inlay. Beneath the dome over the prayer niche, corner supports are decorated with faience tiles, glazed tiles made from a fine ceramic material, bearing dark-blue and turquoise hexagonal and star motifs with vegetal designs. The decoration recalls the pediment ornament of the Karatay and Alaaddin mosques in Konya. The original minbar, the pulpit used for the sermon, was covered with walnut panels.
The mosque originally had two minarets. One has disappeared completely, while the surviving brick minaret retains its octagonal base and cylindrical shaft as far as the muqarnas balcony. The portion above the balcony is ruined. Its spiral staircase is arranged within the buttress of the main portal.
Adjacent tomb
An octagonal Seljuk tomb stands immediately beside the mosque. Built of stone and brick, it is covered by a pyramidal roof and forms a separate surviving element of the architectural group.
