Burmalı Minare Mosque

Burmalı Minare Mosque, also known as Ulu Mosque and Mahkeme Mosque, is a historic religious building located in the province of Amasya. The mosque, named after its twisted minaret, draws attention with the Seljuk tomb adjacent to it and the Ottoman period minaret. It was commissioned in 1237 by Ferruh b. Selçuk during the reign of the Anatolian Seljuk State ruler II. Gıyâseddin Keyhüsrev.

It is located behind the present-day Bakırcılar Bazaar. It is claimed that it was built between 1237-1247 by Ferruh Bey, the vizier of Seljuk Sultan II. Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev, although the exact construction date is not known. After its initial construction, the mosque’s minaret, which had been ruined by an earthquake in 1590 and a fire in 1602, was destroyed in a fire in 1730 and was repaired again; this repaired minaret was built with strong stone suitable for the mosque structure. The cavities surrounding the minaret gave the mosque the name Burmalı Minare Mosque. The building is important as it shows the advanced dome‑mosque type of the Seljuks. Its façade, like other Anatolian Seljuk works, is adorned with geometric motifs and muqarnas fillings. Apart from the two minarets and the tomb on either side of the entrance, the mosque has a very regular rectangular shape. The interior of the mosque is illuminated by four windows on the west and east façades and three windows on the south façade, with thick and sturdy walls made of sandstone. The mosque is entered through an arched door set in a wide portal extending outward between the minaret and the tomb. The interior space is divided into three naves by three columns on each side of the mihrab axis. Three of the nine sections in the central row are covered with domes. The sections near the qibla wall on both sides are inclined, while the remaining parts are covered with cradle vaults.

In the left corner of the façade, the adjoining pyramidal-roofed tomb contains the building’s founder Ferruh Bey and his son Yusuf Bey. The tomb is octagonal in plan on a square base and is made of cut stone. On the body walls, a pyramidal roof follows a two‑row hedgehog‑scale pattern. The upper floor of the structure was used as a library until recent times, and in the lower part the mummies that are still housed in the Amasya Museum have been preserved. Because the mummy of Prince Cumudar is also located here, the tomb is popularly called Cumudar Tomb.

The mosque was reopened for worship on 2 August 2024 after a restoration work that lasted two years.