Ahi Yusuf Mosque and Tomb

The Ahi Yusuf Mosque in Antalya's old town began as a defensive bastion built into the Seljuk-era city walls. In the third quarter of the fifteenth century a guild leader named Ahi Yusuf had the bastion repaired and converted into a small square mosque, a transformation that gave the building its present form and name. It has no minaret, and its prayer hall is covered by a dome resting on triangular pendentives, with a wooden mihrab and pulpit set into the south wall. Immediately south of the mosque stands Ahi Yusuf's tomb, marked by a two-piece marble gravestone topped with a carved turban. A fifteen-line Arabic inscription covers the stone: the first thirteen lines quote the Qur'anic Throne Verse, and the last two record the date and circumstances of its construction. Visitors reach the mosque and tomb through a brick arched doorway set into the courtyard wall on the north side.