Meydan Mosque

Meydan Mosque was built between about 1520 and 1530 by the Şerefhan rulers of Bitlis, in eastern Turkey, and takes its name from its role as a mosque facing the town's open meydan, or public square. It is one of the mosques traditionally grouped among Bitlis's "five minarets," a set of historic structures whose minarets have become symbolic of the old city's skyline. Built in the same era as the nearby Şerefiye complex, it served as a community gathering place as much as a site of worship, reflecting the civic role mosques often played in Ottoman-period towns. The mosque continues to stand in Bitlis's historic core, among the cluster of sixteenth-century religious buildings that give the old town its character.