Birgi Grand Mosque
Birgi Grand Mosque (Birgi Ulucamii), also called "Aydınoğlu Mehmet Bey Mosque", is a historical mosque in Turkey.
The mosque is in the Birgi town in Ödemiş ilçe (district) of İzmir Province at 38°15′24″N 28°04′02″E.
Aydınids was an Anatolian beylik ( principality ) in the 14th century in West Anatolia. Birgi, now a village was the capital of the beylik. The mosque was commissioned by Mehmet, the first ruler of the beylik.
Architecture
The mosque was built in 1312.[1][2] It is an example of a typical Seljukid mosque. The most notable sections of the mosque are the fine woodworking mimbar which has no metallic nail [3] and the mihrab which is made of dark cyan marble.[4] The lion statue in the south eastern corner of the building is also interesting for statues are rare in Islamic architecture and this statue is a spolia from a Lydian building.
Mimbar gate theft
In 1993 the gate of the mimbar disappeared and it was discovered by a British tourist in British Museum. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism purchased the gate and in 1996 it returned to where it belongs.[4]
References
- Foss, Clive (2022). The Beginnings of the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-19-263477-1.
- Kalfazade, Selda (2012). "ULUCAMİ [Birgi]". TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-02-01.
- Visitİzmir page (in Turkish)
- İzmir periodical (in Turkish)
