Özlüce Church

St. Yorgi Church of Özlüce, a building located in the village square of the Özlüce neighborhood in the Nilüfer district of Bursa, built as a Greek Orthodox Church in the early 20th century, and as of 2025 serving as a mosque.

It is one of the Greek Orthodox churches built in the Ottoman Empire after the Tanzimat period. As a building, it differs from other churches built in the same period in Bursa and its surroundings; after the 1924 population exchange it was used as a mosque; after a new mosque was built in the village in the 1980s it fell out of use and fell into ruin. After being used as a cultural venue in the 2000s, it was vacated in 2013 following a lawsuit filed by the Directorate of Foundations and ceased to be used, and it was demolished in 2020. In 2025 it was reopened for worship as a mosque.

History

It is one of the Greek Orthodox churches built after the Tanzimat. The exact construction date is unknown because there is no foundation stone. The date of the permits for the construction of the church in Ottoman archival documents is 1899. Therefore the church is thought to have been built in the early 20th century. Some sources state that construction began in 1886 and was completed in 1912. The documents indicate that it was dedicated to the saint named “Aya Yorgi”. For this reason its name is thought to be St. Yorgi Church (Ayios Yeoryios). From archival documents it appears that it was built on the site of an older church in the same area.

The building was converted into a mosque after the population exchange in the early years of the Republic. In this process, the apse on the east of the building was closed with a wall made of light material; a window on the south nave wall became a mihrab, and the window opposite the mihrab was turned into the mosque entrance door. In addition, most of the windows were walled up and flat wooden ceilings were built on the lower levels of the vaulted coverings. At the same time, a minaret was added to the northwest corner. A fountain was built in the mosque courtyard by the neighborhood in 1975.

When a new mosque was built in the village center in 1992, it fell out of use and became abandoned. In 2006 it was restored by Nilüfer Municipality and in 2009 it was repurposed as a cultural center. The restoration was carried out with craftsmen who had worked on church restorations in Bulgaria and was valued with an Implementation Award by the Historic Cities Union.

The building, which served for several years under the name "Özlüce Cultural Center", was taken from the municipality in 2013 as a result of a lawsuit filed by the Regional Directorate of Foundations; it was registered to the İnesiye Village Mosque Foundation and vacated. In 2020 it fell into ruin because the western nave wall and the rear external narthex section were completely demolished. It was taken into restoration in 2023 and reopened as a mosque in 2025.

Building characteristics

It is oriented north‑south, with a three‑aisle basilical plan. It is of the “U”‑type narthex plan. The plan type and the exterior façade composition are similar to the Taksiyarhis Church in Ayvalık. The most important difference of the building from other Greek Orthodox churches built in Bursa and its surroundings after the Tanzimat period is the outward‑projecting gallery floor and the presence of an outward‑projecting external narthex on the western façade of the gallery.

The building material is brick, cut stone and rubble stone; the interior is plastered. The walls are made of stone brick alternating pattern; the vaulted roof is constructed with the corbelled technique. The structure is covered internally with a barrel vault and externally with a double-pitched broken roof. A projecting eave cornice beneath the roof surrounds the entire building.

On the north façade, a semicircular apse located on the axis rises along the façade. There are a total of four window openings on the apse. The base of the tower built to the west of the apse covers the lower part of the façade. The east and west façades of the building are arranged symmetrically.

Above, the external gallery level projects from the building, covering the east, west and south façades in a “U” shape. The gallery level is accessed via wooden stairs at the corners. The gallery opens with parapet panels, whose outlines can be seen beneath the plaster and paint.