Ramazanoglu Camii

Adana, Türkiye

Ramazanoglu Mosque is known as the greatest work of Turkish Ramazan Emirate (Ramazanogullari), who ruled from 1378 to 1608 on the southeast coast of Anatolia, based in Adana. It was commissioned by Ramazanoglu Halil Bey in 1513 and was completed by his son, Piri Mehmed Pasa in 1541, based on inscriptions on the two portals of the mosque. Its style reflects Seljuk, Mamluk and Ottoman influences.

The larger complex includes the madrasa (b. 1540) located to the east of the mosque and the Ramazanoglu Tomb (b. 1541), attached to the southeast corner of the mosque.

The mosque is the best-preserved part of the complex. It has a rectangular plan that measures approximately thirty-two and a half by thirty-four and a half meters and consists of a long prayer hall adjoined by a tomb to the west and preceded by a walled courtyard to the north. The courtyard is wrapped by an arcade that is single bay deep on the west and two bays deep on the north. Abutting the courtyard to the northwest is an old mosque segment that has been incorporated into the Ramazanoglu Mosque with its own walled courtyard to the south.

The courtyard is entered from two portals facing east and west; while the eastern portal opens directly into the courtyard, the other opens into a domed passageway in the old section that leads into the courtyard arcade. The eastern portal, built with alternating rows of black and white stone, reflects Mamluk influence. The western portal, whose recess is crowned with a multi-faceted conical dome, is Ottoman in style. The L-shaped courtyard arcade is covered with twenty-two domes that sit on octagonal drums raised on pendentives and pointed arches. The arches spring from heavy, diamond-cut capitals resting on nineteen columns. The northern arcade has an arched window on each bay that opens onto a street. The courtyard has a fountain, which is a later addition.

The minaret, which is built into the eastern portal, is accessed from a door in the courtyard. It has a muqarnas covered balcony. The courtyard façade of the prayer hall features three pointed arches that fall on short piers that lead to the interior.

The interior space is two bays deep and five bays wide. The muezzin's platform (müezzin mahfili), which is carried by thin columns, abuts the northern wall, over the entrances. A dome that rests on pendentives surmounts qibla bay, over the mihrab niche. This dome resembles Mamluk domes on the interior with its tapered top. It sits on a tall dodecagonal drum, covered with lead, pierced with a window on each face. The remaining nine bays are covered with cross vaults, which are carried on four marble columns with simple capitals. The west, south and east walls of the prayer hall are marked by half-embedded piers connected by pointed arches; there is a window under each arch except for the mihrab bay. The windows on the qibla wall are topped with small arched windows. A door along the west wall leads into a small room topped by two domes and half dome. This room, which is also entered from the cemetery to the west and the courtyard to the north, is thought to have been a private prayer space used by the Ramazanoglu family.

The tomb, which measures about five and a half meters by six meters, is attached to the east wall of the prayer hall. It is entered from a vaulted iwan and portico facing the courtyard. The burial chamber is surmounted by a dome raised on dodecagonal drum pierced with an arched window on each face. The windows are glazed with colored glass pieces set in plaster honeycomb screens.

The old section to the west of the emirate period mosque is composed of a corridor surmounted by three domes and three vaulted cells on the north. Its rectangular plan measures about eleven by fifteen meters. This section is connected to the street by the western portal and to the courtyard arcade with an unadorned door.

Alternating rows of white, yellow and black stones, a common feature of Mamluk architecture, were used to highlight entrances to the courtyard mosque and tomb, the minaret shaft, the drum of the qibla dome, the minbar and the outer face of the qibla wall. The rest of the mosque complex is made of cut stone. Brick was used on window arches for wall repairs in the old section. The walls, which are plastered on the interior, are about a meter and a half thick in the prayer hall, and nearly a meter thick on the courtyard. The walls of the tomb are slightly thicker than one meter and are constructed by using a finer stone. The qibla wall is decorated with Iznik tiles, which also adorn the tympanum of the arch above the black marble mihrab frame. The unadorned minbar is made of white marble. It has an inscription with the date of 1520 (926 A.H.) and the name of Piri Mehmet Pasa.

Sources:

Bayrak, M. Orhan. Türkiye Tarihi Yerler Kilavuzu, 12-13. Istanbul: Inkilap Kitabevi, 1994.

Çam, Nusret. Adana Ulu Câmii külliyesi. Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanligi, 1988.

Ötüken, S. Yildiz. Türkiyede Vakif Abideler ve Eski Eserler, 2-9. Ankara: Vakiflar Genel Müdürlügü Yayinlari, 1972.