Haydar Kethüda Mosque

Known today as Haydarhane Camii, this mosque in the İskenderpaşa neighborhood of Fatih, Istanbul, traces its origin to the fifteenth century, when it was founded as a small mescit and dervish lodge by Şeyh Ali Haydari, a figure associated with the court of Mehmed the Conqueror. Over the following centuries the original building was largely lost, and for a long period only its cemetery, containing historic Ottoman tombstones, and scattered ruins remained to mark the site. The mosque and its graveyard underwent a thorough restoration completed in 2022, during which the surviving historic tombstones were conserved, and the rebuilt mosque was formally reopened for Friday prayer in a ceremony attended by city officials. The site illustrates how many small Ottoman-era foundations in old Fatih survived centuries of neglect primarily through their cemeteries before being revived as working mosques.