Fatih Mosque, Tirilye
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The Fatih Mosque ( tr, Fatih Camii) is a
mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
in
Tirilye Tirilye (also known as Zeytinbağı, ''Olive yard'') is a town in Bursa Province, Turkey, situated west of Mudanya along the Marmara seashore. The area, which was inhabited since the eighth century BC, was formerly known as Τρίγλεια, ...
(Zeytinbağı), Bursa Province,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. The structure was originally constructed in the 8th or 9th as a
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
church and was later converted to a
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
place of worship during the 16th century. It again served as a
Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...
church between 1920 and 1922 until it was re-converted to a
mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
in 1923.


History

The original structure may have been erected between 720 and 730 (or possibly in the early 9th century, according to
Robert Ousterhout The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
) and was most likely known as either the Church of Christ and Saint Stephen the Confessor - often referred to simply as the Church of Saint Stephen at Trigleia - or the Church of Saint Theodore. There is some evidence that the site church was associated with a monastery, which Cyril Mango and Ihor Ševčenko identify as the Trigleia Monastery ( Greek: ''Moni Trigleias)'', though others have suggested instead that it was affiliated with the Chinolakkos Monastery (''Moni tou Chinolakkou''). Following the Ottoman conquest of
Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, the Byzantine church was converted to a mosque and re-named ''Fatih Camii'' (Turkish: "Mosque of the Conqueror"). Later during the Greek Summer Offensive of 1920, Bursa was briefly occupied by Greek forces and the mosque was briefly re-dedicated as an Orthodox church. In 1923, the site was once again converted to a mosque.


Description

The structure is thought to be the oldest surviving Byzantine building in the region, and has protected status. It also constitutes one of the oldest known examples of a Byzantine cross-in-square church and in its early years the building incorporated a south chapel that was later destroyed. The main entrance to the mosque is through a
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
covered with a wooden roof which is standing on four columns that have ornamented metal headings. The structure's central dome, which sits upon a cylindrical tholobate pierced with eight windows, rises 19 metres (62 ft.) high and is approximately 4.5 metres (14.75 ft.) wide . Although the church was constructed sometime around the 8th century, it incorporated earlier elements such as 6th century sculptures, some of which may have been re-carved at a later date. Some scholars have speculated that the church was also decorated with paintings and
icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
s, though these no longer survive. After the site's conversion to a mosque, a tall tiled
mihrab Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla w ...
covered with a half-dome was set into the building's central
apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
where the former church's ''bema'' (
altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
) once stood. A
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 ...
was also added to the structure, though this was badly damaged in an earthquake in 1855 and has subsequently been rebuilt.


See also

* Cross-in-square Churches * History of Roman and Byzantine domes


References

{{Reflist


Sources

* Brubaker, Leslie and John Haldon. ''Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era (ca. 680-850): The Sources - An Annotated Survey.'' Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011 * Buchwald, Hans Herbert. ''Form, Style, and Meaning in Byzantine Church Architecture.'' Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999 * Cormack, Robin. ''Byzantine Art.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018 * Hayden, Robert, Hande Sözer, Tuğba Tanyeri-Erdemir, and Aylan Erdemir. "The Byzantine Mosque at Trilye: A Processual Analysis of Dominance, Sharing, Transformation and Tolerance." ''History and Anthropology'' , vol. 22, no. 1 (2011): 1-17 * Hasluck, F. W. "Bythinica." ''Annual of the British School at Athens,'' vol. 13 (1906/7): 285-308 * Mango, Cyril and Ihor Ševčenko. "Some Churches and Monasteries on the South Shore of the Sea of Marmara." ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers,'' vol. 18 (1973): 235-77 * Marinis, Vasileios. ''Architecture and Ritual in the Churches of Constantinople: Ninth to Fifteenth Centuries.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014 * Ousterhout, Robert. ''Eastern Medieval Architecture: The Building Tradition of Byzantium and Neighbouring Lands.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019 * Ousterhout, Robert. ''Master Builders of Byzantium.'' Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008


External links


Fatih Mosque in Trigleia, ''The Byzantine Legacy''
Mosques in Turkey Byzantine church buildings in Turkey Mosques converted from churches in the Ottoman Empire 8th-century churches in Turkey Buildings and structures in Bursa Province Mosque buildings with domes Byzantine Bithynia 8th-century mosques