Niğde Alaaddin Mosque is a historical mosque in

Niğde Niğde (; grc, Νίγδη; Hittite: Nahita, Naxita) is a city and the capital of Niğde province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey at an elevation of 1,299 m. In 2017 the city population was 141,010 people. The city is small with plenty ...

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 mosque is in the historical castle of Niğde at . The mosque was constructed in 1223 during the reign of Keyqubad I (r.1220–1237) of

Sultanate of Rum fa, سلجوقیان روم () , status = , government_type = Hereditary monarchyTriarchy (1249–1254)Diarchy (1257–1262) , year_start = 1077 , year_end = 1308 , p1 = By ...

(precursor of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

). It was commissioned by Ziynettin Beşare, the local governor of Niğde in behalf of the sultan. The chief architect of the mosque was Sıddık, the son of Mahmut. His brother Gazi was his assistant. The building material is

cut stone 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 ...

. There are two portals: the one in the east side is monumental. The second gate is in the north side. There are three domes in the southern part of the mosque. The minaret is located in the northeastern corner of the square building. According to local legend, the shape of the ''

muqarnas Muqarnas ( ar, مقرنص; fa, مقرنس), also known in Iranian architecture as Ahoopāy ( fa, آهوپای) and in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe, is a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture. It is the archetypal form of I ...

''-carved eastern portal casts a shadow that resembles the silhouette of a crowned girl, ostensibly the founder's daughter with whom the stonemason who built the mosque fell in love.

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Niğde Province Mosques completed in 1223 Seljuk mosques in Turkey