Ä°sa Bey Mosque

The Isabey Mosque ( Turkish Isabey Camii ) is situated at the southwestern foot of the castle hill Ayasoluk below the citadel and the Church of St. John, about 300 m northeast of the Artemision of Ephesus, in the county town of Selçuk in the Turkish province of Izmir.

Architectural History

The Sultan Isa Bey I. (1360-1390), son of Mehmet Bey, the founder of the Seljuk dynasty of Aydınoğulları that prevailed in western Anatolia in the 14th and 15th centuries was, in 1374 (according to other sources 1375 ), the mosque of Damascus Architects Ali ibn el Dımışki build the type of an Arab courtyard mosque. An inscription over the main entrance is the year 777 of the Islamic calendar as a year. In the earthquakes of 1653 and 1668, the arcades of the courtyard were destroyed. One of the two minarets, which were located at the northeast and northwest corners of the prayer room, was completely destroyed, the other stripped down to the balcony. After the building had been misused for a long time and used among other things as a caravanserai, the mosque was re-opened after a complete restoration in 1975. 2005, a renovation was carried out in which, among other things, the lead roof was renewed.

Construction

The Isabey Mosque encloses an area of about 56.5 × 48.5 m and consists of a courtyard and a three-part prayer room. Through the westernmost main portal, which is surrounded by a toothed rim, alternating brick with yellow and white stones and is closed at the top by a muqarnas, one enters the courtyard of the arcades on three sides only individual columns can be seen. The former wooden roof is gone. Above the portal is the only remaining minaret, the second was located on the opposite mountain side gate. A third, smaller gate lies on the north side. In the center of the courtyard is an octagonal fountain. The door with three pointed arched passageways on the south side leads into the actual, three-part prayer room of about 18 × 48 m. The middle part with pulpit and mihrab ( prayer niche) is crowned by two Ottoman domes, which are internally decorated with turquoise and blue faience. The four arch- bearing dark granite columns taken from the harbor baths of Ephesus.

Main portal

Courtyard with fountain and entrance to the prayer room

Prayer niche ( mihrab ) and the pulpit

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