Yalı Mosque, Çanakkale

The Yalı Mosque stands in the old quarter of Çanakkale near the Dardanelles shoreline, from which it takes its name, yalı meaning waterfront. It was built in 1884 by a local patron, Tavil Ahmet Ağa, during the late Ottoman period, and it remains in active use as a neighborhood mosque. Beside the mosque is an old cemetery containing Ottoman-era gravestones, which has drawn academic interest and been the subject of scholarly study of its headstone inscriptions and carving styles since the late 1990s. Together the mosque and its burial ground form one of the surviving fragments of Çanakkale's pre-20th-century townscape, much of which was reshaped by later development along the strait. The mosque is open to visitors of any faith and sits within walking distance of other historic sites in the old town, including the nearby Çimenlik fortress.