Ortahisar Fatih Mosque is located in Ortahisar Castle, in the city center of Trabzon. The structure was IV-V for the first time. It is assumed that it was built inside a monastery complex that was attributed to St. Andreas in the centuries. XI-XII. It was renovated as a three-nave basilica in centuries, and the cross was planned between 1214-1235. It was converted into a mosque by Fatih Sultan Mehmed Han after the Conquest of Trabzon in 1461 and has survived until today by preserving its architectural features. There is a madrasah attached to the mosque adjacent to the building. Ortahisar Fatih Mosque minaret is located near the north entrance and it was built by sitting on a high pedestal apart from the building.
FATIH MOSQUE HISTORY
Ortahisar Fatih Mosque was named as the Golden-headed Virgin Mary Church Chrysokephalos when it was first built. Its construction dates back to 914. It is believed that this building was built with a basilica plan inside the monastery.
The basis of today’s plan must have been realized in the 12th century. The researchers stated that the building had six major repair cycles. The apse of the building, which has three naves, is round inside and polygon outside. It has an inner and an outer narthex.
The northern entrance of the mosque was built in the 14th century. The central dome sits with a pendant and has a high pulley with 12 corners.
Since the mosque was used as the main church and cathedral of the city in the past, attention was paid to the decoration of the building. The frescoes are covered today. There is an opus sectile mosaic decoration on the bema walls and floor.
After the Conquest of Trabzon, it was converted into a mosque and started to be prayed. Fatih Madrasa was also adjacent to the Fatih Mosque. During the Ottoman period, the main entrance of the mosque was taken to the north, a mihrab was placed in the middle of the south wall, a pulpit was placed and a minaret was built.
The altar is made of stone and is rich in decoration. The geometric interlocking borders surrounding the altar, the niche with muqarnas and the rosettes on it remind of the examples of the historical Seljuk State. The pulpit made of walnut wood is a valuable work of art.
FATIH MOSQUE INTERIOR
The mihrab of the Fatih Mosque is made of stone and is rich in decoration. The side faces of the triangular mihrab niche and the borders in between are decorated with geometric decoration. There is a muqarnas jar on the niche. It is interlaced geometric decoration starting from the wide borders surrounding this niche, starting from the outermost, square-sectioned feet extending to the half height of the mihrab. It consists of a wide border with muqarnas inside and two closed octagons with a rich erase between them. There are geometric rosettes in the mirror above the niche. In the repair sign on the east side of the altar, the name Ömer with the date of 1215 (1800) is read.
Only the eastern side of the pulpit, which is a valuable art work made of walnut wood, has been processed. Its door, throne part is decorated with wood carving. The main triangular-shaped side face consists of six-armed stars (Mühr-i Süleyman) formed in the middle by the intersection of twelve-sided closed shapes. The mirror and the railing part of the pulpit are combined and decorated with the same composition. This practice is not seen in other wooden pulpies in Anatolia. The inner surfaces are carved and filled with rim and palmette motifs.
There are also geometric compositions on the cover under the pavilion with the broom of the pulpit. The door arch, the guardrail of the mansion and the arches are processed in the openwork technique. The minbar, which was built as a kundekari and which was found to be repaired, should have been removed from another place after the conquest and brought here. Pulpit with Seljuk characteristics XV. can be dated to the century. The original door wings of Fatih Mosque could not be preserved. In the middle of the door mirrors, there was a belt around the geometrical inserts. In the mosque, there is no trace of the sultan’s knot with wooden decoration mentioned by Evliya Çelebi. The wooden railings at the northern entrance of Ekrem Hakkı Ayverdi and the two-storey wooden houses inside could not be preserved.
AFTER CONQUEST THE MOSQUE
In the repairs of Ortahisar Fatih Mosque, inscriptions were placed at different times and decorations were made. Of these, on the marble lintel above the main entrance door in the north, Âyete’l-kürsî was written and the phrase “Date conquest Trabzon 867” was added at the end. This post-written date is not correct. According to the inscription on the eastern gate of the mosque, it was opened in 1253 (1837) by Hazînedarzâde Osman Pasha. On the eastern front, on the north wall of the apse, Rakkas Sinan Bey’s book with the name of Şanlı Ali Bey dated 873 (1468) and the fountain dated 1254 (1838) of Sîfî Ali Bey dated 873 (1468). There is an inscription.
The room to the east of the mihrab was turned into a library by Ahmed Muhtar Bey, brother of Hazînedarzâde Abdullah Pasha, according to the inscription dated 1258 (1842). As it turns out, the Ortahisar Mosque Foundation was one of the strongest foundations in Trabzon, and the Hazînedarzâdelar gave great support to this foundation. There is another inscription dated 1295 (1878) on the western gate of the mosque. Some of the line samples in the mosque have been passed over the old ones and XX. It belongs to the beginning of the century. The cells in the northeast of the mosque were used as an intermediate school, while a fountain was built on the wall here. In the repair in 1971, the courtyard was covered with concrete and a fountain and a halter were placed underground.
