Yörgüç Pasa Camii
Amasya, Türkiye
The mosque was built by Yürgüç Pasa, son of Atabey Abdullah, in 1428. Abdullah was a teacher (atabey) of Mehmed I (1403-1421) and a vizier under his successor Murad II (1421-1451) and served as the ruler of Amasya in 1424. Plots of agricultural land (mezra) and a number of baths, vegetable gardens, hans and stores located in the region were placed on its endowment to provide for the operation and maintenance costs of the mosque.

The mosque is located on the southern back of Yesilirmak, downhill from Seljuk monuments of Gökmedrese and the Tomb of Torumtay. Its entrance is set in a deep iwan with an arched entrance, which is flanked by a convent room to the east and an arched bay to the west that holds the tomb of Yürgüç Pasa. The tomb is raised on a platform enclosed by marble walls within the arched bay. All three spaces are covered with domes; the dome of the entry iwan is raised on an octagonal drum carried on fan vaults. The arched doorways of the mosque and the convent room are crowned by carved arabesque panels set inside the tall pointed arches that frame both portals. The panel above the mosque entrance has an inscriptive plaque that gives the name of the donor and the date of construction. The marble-faced entry iwan is further embellished with the use of decorative niches, red and white stone voussoirs with unique shapes and keystone ornaments. A short wooden minaret sits between the domes of the entry iwan and the convent room.

Inside, the mosque consists of a central hall with rooms to the east and west, an a iwan containing the mihrab niche that projects outward to the south. A grand arch separates the central hall from the raised southern iwan, and the side rooms are accessed through arched doorways. Each doorway is flanked by a large shallow niche carved into the wall; a staircase set inside the eastern niche gives access to the wooden muezzin's platform along the north wall, with the women's prayer section below. The minaret steps begin inside the entryway, on the left. The hall, the rooms and the iwan are covered with domes; the dome of the central hall is raised on a sixteen-sided drum with a window above each pendentive and blind windows in between. The muqarnas mihrab is set in a large and simple marble frame and the minber is carved of wood. There is no trace of the original decoration in the plastered interior.

The mosque is constructed of cut stone, with white and red marble used on arches. The soup-kitchen, built across from the mosque, and the four-room madrasa, built to its side, have not survived.

Sources:

Ayverdi, Ekrem Hakki. Osmanli mi?mârisinde Çelebi ve II. Sultan Murad devri, 806-855 (1403-1451): II, 215-224. Istanbul: Baha Matbaasi, 1972.

Gabriel, Albert. Monuments Turcs d'Anatolie, 25-31. Paris: Editions de Boccard, 1931-1934.

Goodwin, Godfrey. A history of Ottoman architecture, 77-78. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1997.

Kuran, Aptullah. The mosque in early Ottoman architecture, 88. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968.

Ötüken, S. Yildiz. Türkiyede Vakif Abideler ve Eski Eserler, 216-219. Ankara: Vakiflar Genel Müdürlügü Yayinlari, 1972.
Location
On the southern bank of Yesilirmak, Gökmedrese neighborhood, Amasya, Türkiye
Images & Videos
Associated Names
Associated Collections
Events
1428/831-832 AH
Style Periods
1299-1922
Variant Names
Yorquc Pasa Camii
Alternate transliteration
Yörgüç Pasa Mosque
Variant
Building Usages
funerary
religious