Kadı Emin Ali Çelebi Mosque

Kadı Emin Ali Çelebi Mosque, Kadı Mosque, Emin Ali Çelebi Mosque or Small Mosque, is a historic Ottoman‑period mosque located in the central district of Kırklareli Province.

History

Because the mosque commissioned by a benefactor named Emin Ali Çelebi has no foundation inscription, no precise information about its construction date can be obtained. Emin Ali Çelebi also had a fountain built opposite the mosque, known as Kadı Ali Fountain, and a marble tomb of his own erected next to the fountain. The date Hijri 976 (AD 1568/1569) determined from the fountain’s inscription is accepted as the mosque’s construction date. According to another view, the mosque was built in Hijri 985 (AD 1577) and its patron was Köse Mihalzade Ali bin Hızırbey Emin Ali Çelebi.

It is stated that because Emin Ali Çelebi served as a judge (kadı) in Kırklareli, the mosque he built is popularly called Kadı Mosque. It is also thought that the mosque may have taken the name Kadı Mosque because, at the site where the Kırklareli Ahmet Mithat Middle School building now stands, there is a courthouse also built by Emin Ali Çelebi.

Restorations

The building, whose ownership is with the General Directorate of Foundations, had its interior restored in 1958 and a shadirvan was built next to it.

In 2007 the building was repaired by the General Directorate of Foundations; the last prayer hall and the minaret were rebuilt.

The mosque is open for worship today.

Architecture

The mosque, with a square plan and covered by a traditional tiled wooden roof, was built of large rubble stone and brick. Its minaret uses neatly cut stone for the balcony. To the north of the structure there is a shadirvan that appears to have been added later, and to the west there is a cemetery with graves dating from the Ottoman period. The minaret attached to the mosque is single‑tiered with a sharp lead‑covered conical roof. The last prayer hall, constructed of cut stone, was also added to the building later.

The façades of the building have pointed arched windows built with brick and rosette‑motif decorations on the lintels of these windows. The mihrab, made of cut stone, has frieze decorations on its crown, but it is stated that it has lost its original condition because it was trimmed over time.