Ortaköy Mosque

File:Gezicht op de Ortaköy Moskee (Ortaköy Camii), Istanbul, RP-F-00-51.jpg minarets, which were replaced with the current design after an earthquake in 1894.]]

On the site of the present-day Ortaköy Mosque there was previously a small mosque built in 1720 and ruined during the Patrona Halil Uprising in 1731.{{Cite journal|last=Türkyılmaz|first=Çiğdem|date=Spring 2015|title=Interrelated Values of Cultural Landscapes of Human Settlements: Case of Istanbul|journal=Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences|volume=222|pages=502–509|doi=10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.141|doi-access=free}} The current mosque was commissioned by the Ottoman sultan Abdülmecid I and built or completed around 1854 or 1856 (the exact dates of construction vary between scholarly sources).{{efn|For example, Alyson Wharton states that construction on the mosque began in 1848 and finished in 1854–5,{{sfn|Wharton|2015|p=115}} and likewise Ahmet Ersoy and the Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture (edited by Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair) cite the year of completion as 1854–5.{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780195309911 |editor-last=M. Bloom |editor-first=Jonathan |location= |pages=259 |chapter=Balyan [Balian] |editor-last2=S. Blair |editor-first2=Sheila}} Ünver Rüstem cites the years 1854 to 1856, while Martina Müller-Wiener similarly gives the year of completion as 1856.{{Cite book |last=Müller-Wiener |first=Martina |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three |publisher=Brill |year=2014 |isbn=9789004161658 |editor-last=Fleet |editor-first=Kate |location= |pages= |chapter=Balyan, family of architects |editor-last2=Krämer |editor-first2=Gudrun |editor-last3=Matringe |editor-first3=Denis |editor-last4=Nawas |editor-first4=John |editor-last5=Rowson |editor-first5=Everett}} Doğan Kuban gives the year 1853.}} Its architects were Armenian father and son Garabet Balyan and Nikoğos Balyan, who worked as a team and who also designed the nearby Dolmabahçe Palace and the Dolmabahçe Mosque in 1853–1855.{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780195309911 |editor-last=M. Bloom |editor-first=Jonathan |location= |pages=259–260 |chapter=Balyan [Balian] |editor-last2=S. Blair |editor-first2=Sheila}}

The mosque was damaged in the 1894 Istanbul earthquake, and it also suffered a minor fire in 1984. Thus, the structure has undergone a number of repair and restoration work in its time. After the 1894 quake, the mosque was repaired by the Ministry of Foundations in 1909, and the original fluted minarets were replaced with more austere masonry work.{{Cite web |last=Gunduz |first=Filiz |date=2007 |title=Ortaköy Camii |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ortakoy-camii |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi |language=tr}} The single dome of the mosque was originally built using bricks and it developed cracks over time. By the 1960s, the building was also starting to lean and the dome was ready to collapse, so its foundations were reinforced and a new dome was reconstructed using concrete. The mosque reopened in 1969.{{Cite journal|last=Alaboz|first=Murat|date=July 2014|title=STRUCTURAL RESPONSE OF ORTAKOY BUYUK MECIDIYE MOSQUE IN ISTANBUL|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269096366|journal=International Masonry Society|pages=13}}File:Great Mecidiye Mosque (14668991812).jpgA three-year restoration project by the General Directorate of Foundations was completed in 2014, at a cost of almost 7 million liras. The mosque was officially reopened on 6 June 2014 with a ceremony attended by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Prime Minister at the time, and other government officials.{{Cite web |date=2014-06-06 |title=BAŞBAKAN ERDOĞAN BÜYÜK MECİDİYE CAMİİ'NDE |url=https://www.milliyet.com.tr/yerel-haberler/istanbul/basbakan-erdogan-buyuk-mecidiye-camiinde-10235311 |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=Milliyet |language=tr}}{{Cite web |title=Istanbul's historic mosque at Ortakoy reopened |url=https://www.turkiyenewspaper.com/culture/4942 |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=Türkiye Newspaper |language=tr}}{{Cite web |last=Sabah |first=Daily |date=2014-06-06 |title=PM opens restored Ortaköy Mosque |url=https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2014/06/06/pm-opens-restored-ortakoy-mosque-gestures-hagia-sophia |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=Daily Sabah |language=en-US}}

As with their other projects in Istanbul, the Balyans designed the mosque in a mixed or eclectic style incorporating contemporary European Revivalist trends such as Neoclassical, along with some details and overall design elements drawn from the earlier Ottoman Baroque style. However, it is distinguished from other mosques of the period by its particularly ornate stone-carved decoration.{{Cite book |last=Goodwin |first=Godfrey |title=A History of Ottoman Architecture |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=1971 |isbn=0500274290 |location=New York |pages=421–422}}{{Cite book |last=Ersoy |first=Ahmet A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VzArDwAAQBAJ&dq=ortakoy+mosque+style&pg=PA202 |title=Architecture and the Late Ottoman Historical Imaginary: Reconfiguring the Architectural Past in a Modernizing Empire |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-351-57601-7 |pages=202 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Kuban |first=Doğan |title=Ottoman Architecture |publisher=Antique Collectors' Club |year=2010 |isbn=9781851496044 |location= |pages=638 |translator-last=Mill |translator-first=Adair}}{{Sfn|Wharton|2015}}

The building consists of a two-story imperial apartment for the sultan, which has a U-shaped plan, and a main prayer hall for the mosque, which has a square plan covered with one dome. The facades with engaged columns are decorated by carved stone reliefs, giving the mosque a "dynamic appearance". There are two rows of windows providing the mosque with illumination.Alan, p.63 The reconstructed dome was built from concrete, while stone was used to build the two, slim minarets.{{Cite book|title=Cultural heritage and its educational implications: a factor for tolerance, good citizenship and social integration|publisher=Council of Europe Publishing|year=1998|isbn=9287135843|location=Germany}} The minarets have balconies resembling Corinthian capitals.{{Sfn|Wharton|2015|p=122}}

The mosque is small in comparison to other mosques on the other side of the Golden Horn. In terms of the interior space, it is modest in scale but the inside is spacious and has wide, tall windows which refract its reflection in water as well as allowing in daylight. Materials like marble and porphyry were used to build the mihrab and minbar.{{Sfn|Wharton|2015|p=122, 133}} The inside of the dome is adorned with Trompe-l'œil frescoes, which were a feature first introduced to Ottoman architecture during the reign of Abdülmecid I.{{Sfn|Wharton|2015|p=123}} The trompe-l'œil paintings here include depictions of niche-like windows with curtains as well as rows of mihrabs, executed in a Neo-Renaissance style while also incorporating elements of traditional Islamic architecture and decoration within that style.{{Sfn|Wharton|2015|pp=132-133}} The mosque's interior also features several panels of calligraphy executed by Abdülmecid I himself, as he was a calligrapher along with being a sultan.{{cite book|title=Moon Istanbul & the Turkish Coast: Including Cappadocia|author1=Leeann Murphy|date=23 December 2014|publisher=Avalon Travel|isbn=9781612386140}}

File:Istanbul asv2020-02 img61 Ortaköy Mosque.jpg|alt=|Exterior, with imperial apartments (left) and the domed prayer hall (right)

File:Ortakoy Mosque DSCF5603.jpg|alt=|Front façade and entrance

File:Ortakoy Mosque DSCF5636.jpg|alt=|Detail of the minarets

File:Istanbul asv2020-02 img64 Ortaköy Mosque.jpg|alt=Interior view of the dome|Interior of the mosque

File:Istanbul asv2020-02 img62 Ortaköy Mosque.jpg|Interior of the mosque, looking up at the dome

File:Ortakoy Mosque DSCF5570.jpg|alt=|Mihrab of the mosque

File:Ortakoy Mosque DSCF5573.jpg|alt=|Minbar of the mosque

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• {{Cite book |last=Wharton |first=Alyson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SdSLDwAAQBAJ&q=ortakoy+mosque+style |title=The Architects of Ottoman Constantinople: The Balyan Family and the History of Ottoman Architecture |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-85773-813-4 |language=en}}
• {{cite book|title = Turkey|author = Hakan Alan|year = 2010|isbn = 9789750114779| publisher =ASBOOK}}

{{Mosques in Turkey}}

{{Ottoman architecture}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortakoy Mosque}}

Category:Beşiktaş

Category:Bosphorus

Category:Garabet Amira Balyan buildings

Category:Nigoğayos Balyan buildings

Category:Ottoman mosques in Istanbul

Category:Religious buildings and structures completed in 1856

Category:Mosques completed in the 1850s

Category:Baroque mosques of the Ottoman Empire

Category:19th-century mosques in Turkey

Category:Mosque buildings with domes in Turkey

Category:Mosque buildings with minarets in Turkey