Esrefoglu Süleyman Bey Camii

Beysehir, Türkiye

The Esrefoglu Süleyman Bey mosque was built in 1297. It is one of the few remaining wooden mosques that dates from the Seljuk period. Right in the center of Beysehir, from the street one sees a flat-roofed stone façade. Once inside the entrance, however, the stone walls give way to a forest of fifty wooden columns topped with muqarnas capitals supporting the timber roof.

The rectangular 34 by 22 meter hall is cut at the north corner such that the entrance is on this diagonal side. The foyer opens directly onto the central aisle of the hypostyle mosque, looking down toward the mihrab. One's view is draw in the direction of the mihrab by two light wells in the ceiling along the main axis and Esrefoglu Süleyman Bey's own raised prayer platform.

The mihrab is under a dome of stone and brick and richly decorated with turquoise and black tiles.


Sources:

Ertug, Ahmet. The Seljuks: a journey through Anatolian architecture, 219. Istanbul: Ahmet Ertug, 1991.

Rice, Tamara Talbot. The Seljuks in Asia Minor, 280. New York: Praeger, 1961.