Kaleiçi Mosque

Kaleiçi Mosque stands in the old walled quarter of Kuşadası that gives the building its name, and is considered the town's oldest surviving mosque. It is also known locally as Öküz Mehmet Paşa Camii, after the Ottoman grand vizier Damat Öküz Mehmet Pasha, who is credited with commissioning it; although the original foundation inscription has been lost, Ottoman foundation (vakıf) records place its construction before 1617. Öküz Mehmet Pasha held several high offices, including governor of Egypt, admiral of the fleet, and twice grand vizier, before his death in 1622. The mosque has been altered over the centuries: an open prayer porch in a Baghdad-influenced style was added to its north side in 1830, when the mihrab was also reworked in the Baroque taste of the period, and the minaret was repaired as early as 1712. Further adjustments to the mihrab and interior were made in 1982, leaving a building that layers early Ottoman origins with later decorative phases.