Emirgan Mosque ( tr, Emirgan Cami), officially Emirgan Hamid-i Evvel Mosque ( ota, Emirgan Hamid-i Evvel Cami) is an 18th-century
Ottoman mosque located in the
Emirgan neighborhood of the
Sarıyer district in
Istanbul, Turkey.
The mosque was built in 1781 by Ottoman Sultan
Abdul Hamid I (reigned 1774–1789) in memory of his early-died son Mehmed and the mother of his son
Hümaşah Kadınefendi. The mosque is officially named after the sultan's name in Ottoman language. Originally, it was part of a complex consisting of a still-existing square fountain, and non-existent structures like a
Turkish bath, a bakery and a mill. The complex was constructed on the place of a former coastal palace owned by Emirgüneoğlu Yusuf Pasha. The current mosque was rebuilt by Sultan
Mahmud II (r. 1808–1839), the son of Abdul Hamid I.
The architectural style details and the decorations of the mosque comply with the architecture of
Empire Period (1808–1876) of the Mahmud II era rather than with the
Baroque Period (1757–1808) architecture of the Abdul Hamid I era. Apparently, no part of the mosque building is original except the inscription dating the first construction by Abdul Hamid I in 1871, which is kept on place as a sign of respect.
The square-plan mosque was built in a courtyard in
ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
masonry with a wooden roof. The big windows in two rows on each side bring natural lighting into the mosque. A cylindrical slim
minaret
A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گلدسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...
with one balcony erected on a square base is situated south of the mosque. The
Acanthus-type foliage ornaments and other decorations on the minaret, typical of 19th-century minarets, indicate that it underwent modifications. A two-story sultan's pavilion is attached to the mosque's eastern wall with a separate entrance. A
bay window, supported by six columns, served as relaxation room for the sultan. According to a two-line poetic inscription written in
Thuluth on top of the
shadirvan situated at the northern corner of the mosque's courtyard, it was endowed by Rebgigül Hanım, the head of female servants in the house of Mümtaz Kadın, a spouse of
Wali and
Khedive
Khedive (, ota, خدیو, hıdiv; ar, خديوي, khudaywī) was an honorific title of Persian origin used for the sultans and grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire, but most famously for the viceroy of Egypt from 1805 to 1914.Adam Mestyan"Kh ...
of
Ottoman Egypt
The Eyalet of Egypt (, ) operated as an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire from 1517 to 1867. It originated as a result of the conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517, following the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–17) and the a ...
Kavalalı Mehmet Ali Pasha (r. 1805–1848).
Gallery
File:EmirganMosque (8).jpg, Northwestern façade and main entrance.
File:EmirganMosque (7).jpg, Shadirvan in the courtyard of the mosque.
File:EmirganMosque (11).jpg, Square fountain as part of Emirgan Mosque.
References
{{commons category, Emirgan Hamid-i Evvel Camii
Ottoman mosques in Istanbul
Buildings and structures in Istanbul
Religious buildings and structures completed in 1781
Sarıyer
Bosphorus
18th-century mosques
1781 establishments in the Ottoman Empire
19th-century architecture