Kemeraltı Mosque

Kemeraltı Mosque, located in the Konak district of İzmir, takes its name from the Kemeraltı Bazaar in which it is situated, and is the mosque on Anafartalar Street, one of the main routes of the bazaar. It is also known as Yusuf Çavuşzade Ahmet Ağa Mosque and Mûsâ Bâlî Mosque.

Construction

Although the exact construction date of Kemeraltı Mosque is not known, its foundation charter dated 3 November 1671 states that it was built by Yusuf Çavuşzade Ahmed Ağa. The mosque, which today is squeezed among shops and buildings, was also built on the waterfront of the inner harbor at the time of its construction. The area where the mosque, also called Yusuf Çavuşzade Ahmet Ağa Mosque, stands was then also known as the Mûsâ Bâlî side. For this reason, its madrasa and mosque were also once referred to by the name Mûsâ Bâlî.

Together with the mosque, a library, a sebil and a madrasa known as Mûsâ Bâlî Yakası were built. The structure is surrounded on its north and east sides by a courtyard. Old records also indicate that it was built in a fevkani, i.e., mosque‑bazaar, form. The mosque was repaired in 1774, 1812 and 1902. Despite the Kemeraltı Anafartalar Street Facade Arrangement Project and various restoration projects for other historic mosques in the area, Kemeraltı Mosque has not undergone a serious restoration in recent years.

Architectural features

The mosque has a plan consisting of a square prayer hall covered with a dome and a three‑section rear prayer area, while it was extended northward in two sections to become rectangular. The rear prayer area on the north side is three‑parted and has three domes. The exterior walls of the mosque are yellow‑pink; the interior is turquoise. At the courtyard entrance, on the left side, there is a library built by the Salepçioğlu family and, next to it, a madrasa room. This building also has four rooms and is currently used by the mosque’s imam and muezzin.

The worship space is illuminated by windows in two rows, the lower row having round arches and the second row having circular windows. Inside the sanctuary, especially at the column capitals, above the windows, along the arches and around the panels, there are gilded plaster decorations. The decorations on the mihrab and the minbar are also painted with gold leaf. The only decoration on the mirrors beside the minbar is a carved acanthus plant relief, detailed and painted with gold leaf. At the apex of the round arch of the minbar’s passage arch, an alembic motif appears; in its corners there are simple stylized flower examples made of acanthus leaves. The pavilion railings are filled with a hexagonal motif placed inside a large medallion, decorated with acanthus leaves. As can be seen in the recently built Başdurak Mosque, a curtain motif with tassels is hung on both sides immediately in front of the mihrab niche. On the front of the minbar entrance there is a folded curtain motif reminiscent of the Hisar Mosque minbar. Below the curtain, the inscriptions Maşallah and Besmele appear and it ends with a crescent motif at the top. Within the shema motifs in the minbar’s arch corners, the Kalima‑i‑Tavhid appears, as also seen in Başdurak Mosque; in the arch lintel there is a verse inscription. The minaret stands on a cut‑stone base, has a round body and a single balcony, and is located at the northeast corner of the building.

On the façade facing Anafartalar Street, there was a 19th‑century sebil that remained open until the late 1990s. Kemeraltı Mosque is one of the first mosques that visitors entering Kemeraltı from Konak Square and the İzmir Clock Tower can see. It is located at the corner where the first sharp turn on Anafartalar Street leads to the Yemiş market. Its surroundings are surrounded by shops and restaurants engaged in various branches of trade.