Boyacı Hasan Ağa Mosque

Boyacı Hasan Ağa Mosque (Hızır Mosque), a historic mosque located in the center of Zile district of Tokat.

The mosque, which is a whole together with the school attached to its south wall, was built in 1497 during the reign of Bayezid II by Ali bin Sultan Hoca according to the construction inscription above the school entrance door. In 1640 it underwent a major repair by a person named Boyacı Hasan Ağa and from that date it began to be called "Boyacı Hasan Ağa Mosque". The last prayer hall and the minaret have not survived to the present day in their original form.

Architectural features

It is a single-domed, single-minaret structure. It was built with rubble stone and brick material. Its entrance is a round arched door opened in the middle of the north façade. The upper part of the worship area is covered by an octagonal drum dome. A later-added tiled, concrete-material last prayer hall has been attached to the north façade.

The mihrab niche, slightly projecting outward from the façade, is arranged in five sections. The wooden pulpit to the west of the mihrab and the sermon podium in the southeast corner are not original and have no distinctive features.

On the northeast side of the mosque, attached to the body wall, there is a cylindrical minaret built of brick on a square base made of cut stone with brick joints. The single-tiered minaret ends with a lead‑covered cap and a finial.

The wooden drum placed at the exact center of the dome is the most important decorative element of the building. Within the outermost band of the drum are verses, and in the middle and inner bands there are rose and vase flower motifs. This drum, decorated with pen work, is thought to have been added in a period later than the original construction of the building.

Because it is believed that a person who performs the five‑times‑daily morning prayer in this mosque will see Hızır, it is popularly known among the people as "Hızır Mosque".