Minaret in Érd: An Ottoman Prayer Tower in Hungary
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Hungary
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Ottoman
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Minaret
On this page15 sections
History
The Minaret in Érd, also known as the Hamza Bey Minaret, is an Ottoman-period prayer tower in Hungary, associated with a mosque in Érd-Ófalu and probably built in the seventeenth century. A minaret is a tower from which a muezzin traditionally proclaimed the Islamic call to prayer. The monument belonged to the Ottoman military and religious landscape of Érd, and it is one of only three surviving Ottoman minarets in Hungary, together with those at Eger and Pécs.
The Érd fortress and the mosque
Érd became an Ottoman military position in 1566, when Sultan Suleiman ordered Hamza Bey, the Ottoman commander associated with Székesfehérvár, to build a palisade fortress there. A bey was an Ottoman military or administrative title. In the late sixteenth century, the fortress was guarded by 36 soldiers, while its usual garrison consisted of approximately 40 to 50 men.
Earlier interpretations placed the mosque and minaret within the sixteenth-century fortress phase, reasoning that the Muslim garrison would have required a place of worship. The seventeenth-century Ottoman traveler and chronicler Evliya Çelebi also attributed the mosque to Hamza Bey. More recent interpretations date both structures to the seventeenth century, when the fortress gained greater military importance and its garrison increased after the Fifteen Years’ War of 1593 to 1606, a conflict between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire.
Destruction and modern investigation
The mosque still appeared on a map from 1783. Its destruction date and circumstances remain uncertain. The most likely explanation is that the great flood of 1838 destroyed the building, after which local residents removed its stones for use in their houses. By the 1840s, descriptions referred only to the surviving minaret.
Archaeological excavations directed by the Hungarian archaeologist Géza Fehér began in 1962 and continued until 1965. They exposed the foundations of the adjoining mosque, which measured 9.8 by 9.8 metres. In 1970 and 1971, restoration and reconstruction followed plans by the architect Károly Ferenczy. The work rebuilt the destroyed balcony parapet, upper termination, and roof cap in reinforced concrete, added a concrete stairway to the entrance, and increased the height of the previously truncated tower by about 7 metres.
The facade was conserved in 1999, and a comprehensive restoration followed in 2000. Angel motifs beneath the balcony were identified during that work. The Minaret in Érd is a nationally protected monument owned by the Hungarian state and managed by the Municipality of Érd. It is also registered as a Hungarian cultural monument.
Remains
The minaret stands alone in Érd-Ófalu, where the main street widens into a square lined with single-storey family houses. It is near the Danube dike and beside traces of an ancient Roman military road. The nearby street is called Mecset Street, or Mosque Street, recalling the destroyed mosque. Built of limestone reportedly quarried at nearby Sóskút, the tower is approximately 22 to 23 metres high. Its compact proportions and restrained decoration distinguish its surviving form from those of the other Ottoman minarets in Hungary.
The tower and its lower structure
Pedestal, base, and shaft
The tower originally stood on a square limestone pedestal called a kaide. Its ashlar blocks have since been dispersed. Above this was the base, or kürszü, followed by the shaft, or gövde. Both have a roughly circular polygonal plan with twelve sides rather than the more usual fourteen. The shaft wall is about 20 centimetres thick and rises only about 8 metres. Its surface is unfluted, continuing without major articulation to the main cornice. Curved pointed edges and narrow light openings provide the principal interruptions to its plain exterior.
Transition between the base and shaft
A trapezoidal transitional section, known as a pabudzs, connects the base and shaft. It is 1.1 metres high and meets the shaft at an angle of 60 degrees. This is the shortest and least steeply inclined transition among the surviving Hungarian minarets, whose comparable sections are about 2.5 metres high and have angles of approximately 75 to 80 degrees.
The balcony and upper termination
Balcony and cornice
The projecting balcony, or serefe, is approximately 15 metres above ground. It rests on a four-part corbelled cornice at the top of the shaft. Beneath the balcony is a continuous band of recessed, fish-backed blind arches arranged like a string of beads. A continuous arabesque of inverted heart-shaped blind arches runs below the surrounding band. The balcony follows the tower’s twelve-sided plan, and its diameter equals that of the base. Its parapet was reconstructed in reinforced concrete in 1970 and 1971.
Upper section and roof cap
Above the balcony, the polygonal petek forms the structural termination of the tower and contains the opening leading onto the balcony. The pointed roof cap, or tadzs, formerly carried a crescent finial. A lightning strike destroyed the upper section, roof cap, and crescent. These elements were reconstructed in reinforced concrete during the 1970 to 1971 restoration.
Entrance and staircase
Entrance opening
A segmental-arched entrance is cut into the eastern side of the base, approximately 2 metres above ground. It was formerly reached from the gallery of the adjoining mosque and closed by a wooden door.
Internal stairway
Inside the tower, a spiral staircase of 50 wedge-shaped limestone steps leads to the balcony. The steps are bonded with mortar and secured with iron cramps. The staircase served the muezzin as he climbed to the balcony to proclaim the call to prayer.
Remains of the mosque
Former mosque and mihrab
The adjoining mosque has been destroyed, but its foundations were excavated beside the minaret. It was a rectangular, richly decorated building with coloured windows, carpets, and a mihrab, the prayer niche marking the direction of prayer, opposite the entrance. The entrance had a stone frame, while a wooden-barred balcony connected the muezzin with the minaret. A copy of the mosque’s mihrab has been reconstructed nearby in iron-reinforced concrete.
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