Ahi Elvan Mosque

Ahi Elvan Mosque in Ankara is thought to date from the final years of the fourteenth century, a period when Seljuk building traditions were giving way to early Ottoman ones. An inscription on its wooden minbar credits its founder as Hacı Elvan, a member of the Nizameddin Zehrab lineage linked to the city's ahi guild brotherhoods, and records repairs carried out in 1413-14 under the Ottoman ruler Mehmed Çelebi I. The mosque follows a four-aisled basilical plan beneath a flat timber ceiling that rests on twelve columns spaced at regular intervals; several of their capitals, carved in Corinthian and Doric styles, were reused from earlier Roman buildings in the area. Although its brick-clad interior and exterior have been refreshed during modern restorations, the mosque has kept much of the atmosphere of its medieval origins and remains an active place of worship in central Ankara.