Zagan Pasha Mosque () is a historic

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

Balıkesir Balıkesir () is a city in the Marmara Region, Marmara region of Turkey. It is the seat of Balıkesir Province, which is also a Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality. As of 2022, the population of Balıkesir Province ...

, northwest Turkey. It is known as the place, where

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

delivered his famous "Balıkesir

Khutbah ''Khutbah'' (, ''khuṭbah''; , ''khotbeh''; ) serves as the primary formal occasion for public sermon, preaching in the Islamic tradition. Such sermons occur regularly, as prescribed by the teachings of all legal schools. The Islamic traditio ...

" in 1923. The mosque was built in 1461 by Zagan Pasha (fl. 1446–1462 or 1469), an Ottoman

military commander The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

and

Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

origin; he was the son of the right hand of George Castriot Skanderbeg - Vrana Konti. Located in the city center, at Mustafa Fakıh neighborhood, it is part of a complex consisting of a tomb and a

hammam A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model ...

. The mosque and the tomb, broke down in 1897, were rebuilt in 1908 by the

Mutasarrıf Mutasarrif, mutesarrif, mutasarriff, or mutesarriff () was the title used in the Ottoman Empire and places like post-Ottoman Iraq for the governor of an administrative district in place of the usual sanjakbey. The Ottoman rank of mutasarrif was e ...

(Governor) Ömer Ali Bey. It is the biggest mosque in Balıkesir. The square-plan mosque is constructed in

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

masonry. It has one main dome surrounded by four side domes, which are separated by vaults. Entrance to the mosque is through double-winged wooden doors in the north, west and east. On three sides of the mosque, in front of the doors, there is a porch with an inclined lead-coated timber roof supported by two square marble columns. The mosque has no

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of Early Christian art and architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Byzantine basilicas and Church architecture, churches consisting of the entrance or Vestibule (architecture), ve ...

. The

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

is situated on the northwest corner of the building. It was donated by

Hacı Hacı is the Turkish spelling of the title and epithet Hajji. It may refer to: People * Hacı I Giray (died 1466), founder and the first ruler of the Crimean Khanate * Hacı Ahmet ( 1566), purported Turkish cartographer * Hacı Arap Yaman (born ...

Hafız

Efendi Effendi or effendy ( ; ; originally from ) is a title of nobility meaning ''sir'', ''lord'' or ''master'', especially in the Ottoman Empire and the Caucasus''.'' The title itself and its other forms are originally derived from Medieval Greek ...

of Arabacıoğulları, a notable family in Balıkesir. In the courtyard, two

shadirvan A shadirvan (, , ) is a type of fountain that is usually built in the courtyard or near the entrance of mosques, caravanserais, khanqahs, and madrasas, with the main purpose of providing water for drinking or ritual ablutions to several peop ...

s and a tomb are situated. Outside of the courtyard's northwest corner, there is a third shadirvan of pentagon plan. A

sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

is attached on a table sitting on a short thick column at the south of the courtyard. During his visit to Balıkesir on February 7, 1923, shortly after the end of the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

(May 19, 1919 – October 11, 1922), Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, then known as Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha, delivered a

khutbah ''Khutbah'' (, ''khuṭbah''; , ''khotbeh''; ) serves as the primary formal occasion for public sermon, preaching in the Islamic tradition. Such sermons occur regularly, as prescribed by the teachings of all legal schools. The Islamic traditio ...

(an Islamic sermon), which became famous as the "Balıkesir Khutbah", in the mosque.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zagan Pasha Mosque Ottoman mosques in Turkey Buildings and structures in Balıkesir Province 1460s establishments in the Ottoman Empire 1461 establishments in Asia 1461 establishments in Europe Buildings and structures completed in 1461 Mosques completed in the 1460s Mosque buildings with domes in Turkey Mosque buildings with minarets in Turkey