Camili Mosque

Camili Village Mosque or Hertvisi Mosque, located in the historic Maçaheli region, in the present-day Camili village, which belongs to the Borçka district of Artvin province and was formerly named Hertvisi, is a historic mosque. After the village's name changed from Hertvisi, it was called Camili Mosque. Hertvisi Mosque is one of eight wooden mosques identified on the Turkish side of the Maçaheli valley.

In terms of design and style, as well as colorful interior and original motifs, Hertvisi Mosque shares characteristics with both other wooden mosques in the Artvin region and mosques in Georgia's Adjara region.

History

Based on a berat concerning the appointment of an imam‑khateeb, Hertvisi Mosque is estimated to have been built before 1819. When the mentioned wooden mosque collapsed due to an avalanche, the current mosque was presumably constructed around 1855. According to information given by the Georgian historian Zakaria Çiçinadze, who traveled through the Maçaheli valley in the early 1890s, Hertvisi Mosque was built using the materials of an old church that had been demolished in the village. However, in 1855, a rock named “Kvirkvina” (კვირკვინა) near the village of Znelieti (ძნელიეთი) broke off and destroyed this mosque, causing many deaths. From this information it can be said that the present mosque was built after 1855.

Camili Mosque was registered and placed under protection in 2005 by the Trabzon Cultural and Natural Heritage Protection Regional Board. However, despite this, the wooden elements inside the mosque were varnished during the 2018 restoration and the colorful interior decorations were completely removed. In such historic buildings, it is known that when non‑original interventions are detected, it is possible to identify the original layer with appropriate restoration methods and to reveal the original colors over the entire surface. Indeed, during the restoration of the mosque built in the 19th century in Bayat village, Çivril district of Denizli province, the original decorations were preserved.

Architecture

New Hertvisi Mosque was built on a rubble stone foundation entirely using the wooden post-and-beam technique. The mosque has a single‑storey minaret that was constructed at a later date. The main entrance, which has an approximately square plan, is located on the north façade, and the double‑leaf door of this entrance was later covered by a porch. The mosque also has a second entrance on the east façade where a single‑leaf door is hung. The wooden mihrab is placed within a rectangular frame and has a semicircular shape. On the right and left sides of the main entrance door there are staircases, with the staircase on the right providing access to the gallery level. The mosque’s roof is supported by wooden beams laid horizontally and vertically from wall to wall, and the dome rests on four wooden posts. In addition to the four main wooden posts that carry the roof covering, there are two more wooden posts that support the gallery level.

The pulpit positioned from the ground upward is made of wood and resembles the ambon found in churches in form. Because the four-leaf clover on the wall panel of the mosque is in the shape of a cross, it is assumed that the builder was Christian. In the mosque there are geometric compositions, figurative compositions, vegetal compositions and inscriptions. On the mosque door there is carving, on the mihrab there is latticework, on the minbar there is gilding, latticework and inlay, in the mahfil there is latticework and inlay, on the ceiling and wall panels there is inlay, in the window lower grille there is latticework, and on the dome there are kalemişi and bağdadi.

A study carried out in Georgia on the wooden mosques found in the region states that the interior spaces of the mosque here were originally colored with natural pigments, while from the late 19th century craftsmen adopted commercial chemical paints in order to create a vibrant effect with a broader colour palette.

Motifs

In the mosque vegetal motifs such as leaf, flowers emerging from a vase, S‑shaped curves, bud rose, palmette, 21‑petal flower, 15‑petal flower, 14‑petal flower, 6‑petal flower and 4‑petal flower are used; geometric motifs such as arrow, baklava slice, circle, rectangle, square and triangle; and figurative motifs such as fish‑back and brush motif.