Fatih Paşa Mosque

Fatih Paşa Mosque (also known as Kurşunlu Mosque and Bıyıklı Mehmet Paşa Mosque) is a mosque located in the city of Diyarbakır, Turkey. It was commissioned by the city's first Ottoman governor Bıyıklı Mehmed Paşa between 1516 and 1520.

It is situated in the northeast of the city, in Fatih Paşa Neighborhood, İç Sokak. It is the city's first Ottoman mosque and is considered the most monumental and finest of the structures in Diyarbakır.

Because the local people gave Bıyıklı Mehmet Paşa, who captured Diyarbakır for the Ottomans, the epithet “Fatih Paşa,” the mosque is also called “Kurşunlu Mosque” due to its dome and roof being completely covered with a lead sheet. Mehmet Paşa is buried in the tomb to the east of the mosque.

Together with the surrounding ruined structures that are likely a madrasa and a bathhouse and the tomb belonging to the adjacent baniye, it forms a complex. To its northeast another 16th‑century Ottoman governor, Özdemiroğlu Osman Paşa, has a tomb. The Şafiîler section in the northeast remains outside the present courtyard wall that surrounds the mosque.

History

Fatih Paşa Mosque was commissioned by Diyarbakır's first Ottoman governor Bıyıklı Mehmed Paşa between 1516 and 1520. It was registered and protected by the Diyarbakır Cultural and Natural Heritage Protection Regional Board under the name “Kurşunlu Mosque and Tomb” with decision No. 784 dated 12 June 1991. The mosque was restored by the General Directorate of Foundations in 1960, 1975‑1976, 1981‑1983 and 2008. In December 2015 the mosque suffered serious damage and burned in a clash between the PKK and the security forces of the Republic of Turkey around the mosque. The responsibility for this damage and fire could not be identified; different sources held PKK members as well as the security forces of the Republic of Turkey responsible. After the completion of restoration works the mosque was reopened for worship on 7 March 2019.

Architectural features

The mosque has a central plan scheme. In the center, the pendentive-supported main dome carried by four square feet is extended by semi-domes in the four directions. These semi-domes are also connected to the walls and arches by one large, then smaller, exedras.

To the north of the courtyard there is a seven-dome last prayer hall. The eight columns and capitals of the last prayer hall are made of white marble. In the middle of the last prayer hall on the north façade of the building is the mosque’s main entrance door. On both sides of the main entrance door are the sütüncels. The capitals of the sütüncels are decorated with geometric and vegetal motifs. The main entrance door is a low arch. On the right and left of the main entrance door, there are windows opening to the courtyard and small mihrabs with interlaced crown arches.

The walls of the building are generally plain, and its most active part is the mihrab and minbar in the center of the qibla wall. The mosque’s mihrab is made of finely cut limestone and projects outward from the qibla wall. The marble minbar’s pavilion section, balustrade and especially the marble door leaves are to be ornamented. The mosque’s mihrab is made of finely cut limestone and projects outward from the qibla wall. The marble minbar’s pavilion section, balustrade and especially the marble door leaves are to be ornamented.

The minaret located at the northwest corner of the mosque has a square base, cylindrical shaft and a single balcony. The balcony has six rows of muqarnas. Its balustrades are stone latticework and have a composition developing from six‑armed stars. The plain cylindrical honeycomb is covered with a pyramidal dome.

Inscription

The building’s construction inscription has not survived to the present day. Although it is stated that there was a construction inscription on the outer door used for entrance to the mosque’s courtyard, this door and its inscription were lost when the door was hit by cannon fire from the inner fortress during the uprisings in Diyarbakır in 1819.

Ornaments

Ornamentation in the building has been applied on stone and wood material. Stone ornaments have been created on basalt, limestone and marble using carving, relief and lattice carving techniques. In addition to these techniques, painting technique has also been used on the marble used in the minbar. There are sources indicating that tile decoration is also present in the interior of the mosque, but the tiles have not survived to the present.

Ornamentation is seen on the north façade and the minaret in the exterior architecture.

Complex

A tomb is attached to the structure on the northwest side of the mosque. To its northeast, another tomb of the 16th‑century Ottoman governor Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha is placed. The Şafiîler section in the northeast remains outside the present courtyard wall surrounding the mosque.

The Şafiler part, which has a transverse rectangular plan, is covered with a flat roof. There is no document that would give a construction date, but it is thought to date to the second half of the 16th century. This section, which formerly served as a madrasa, has been operating as the Fatih Paşa Women and Children Education Center since 2004.