Karacabey Mosque

Karacabey Mosque is a mosque located in the Hamamönü district of Ankara, believed to have been built in 1427.

It is currently situated on the grounds of Hacettepe Hospital. The building, in the style of Bursa mosques, is the only example of this type in Ankara.

History

The patron of the building is Celaleddin Karacabey bin Abdullah, the Bey of Anatolia and son‑in‑law of Ottoman Sultan Çelebi Mehmed and brother‑in‑law of Murad II. The construction date is not specified in the mosque’s inscription, but Mübarek Galib Pasha, who read and published the missing historical part of the inscription, gives the date as Hijri 831 (AD 1427/1428).

After Karaca Bey, also known as “Damat Karaca Pasha”, was martyred in the Battle of Varna, his corpse was transferred to Ankara, where he served, and buried in the large courtyard in which Karacabey Mosque stands.

Together with the adjoining tomb, the fountain at the courtyard entrance, and the nearby Karacabey Bath, the mosque forms a complex. In its 1484 endowment deed, in inscriptions, other written sources and among the populace it is referred to as “İmaret Mosque”.

The mosque’s inscription states that the architect was Ebubekiroğlu Ahmet. It is a mosque in the Bursa style (tabhaneli zaviye) and is the only example of this type in Ankara.

It has five domes, its minaret is on the northwest, and it is made of a mixture of stone and brick. The wooden pulpit is covered with fine carvings.

The mosque was first repaired during the reign of Selim III. Damaged in the 1892 earthquake, it was restored in 1894. During this restoration it lost much of its original architecture.

The building underwent further restorations in the Republican era in 1938, 1943 and 2005.

During the 2005 restoration it was determined that the shape of the mosque had changed over centuries, that its original plan was the same as the Yahşi Bey Mosque in the district of Tire, İzmir, and it was repaired according to that plan. In this restoration a tower that was not present in its original state was added to the top of the dome.