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The Bayezid II Mosque (Bayezid Camii) is a large imperial mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. It’s located on Beyazıt Square near the Grand Bazaar.
History of the Bayezid II Mosque
The Bayezid II Mosque was built between 1501 and 1506 and was commissioned by Sultan Bayezid II. The architect was most likely Yakubşah ibn Islamşah. He was a nephew of Atik Sinan, a member of Constantinople’s Greek community who designed the Fatih Mosque.
The dome was partially rebuilt after an earthquake in 1509. Mimar Sinan (1490-1588) made repairs from 1573 to 1574. Each minaret burned down separately in 1683 and 1764, and more repairs were carried out in 1767 after an earthquake a year earlier. An extensive restoration took place starting in August 2012, taking eight years to complete. The mosque reopened for worship in 2020.
Features of the Bayezid II Mosque
The Bayezid II Mosque has several interesting features, both architectural and aesthetic.
Courtyard
The courtyard is surrounded by a monumental entrance with portals on three sides and has an area almost equal to the mosque itself. In the center is a beautiful ablutions fountain (şadırvan).
The courtyard contains a colonnaded peristyle on three sides. It’s made up of 20 columns taken from churches and ancient ruins in the city. 2 of the columns are porphyry, 10 are verd antique, and 6 are pink granite. The peristyle is covered by 24 small domes.
Prayer Hall
The mosque is made of stone and marble salvaged from Byzantine ruins. The interior is modeled after Hagia Sophia and is about 40 square meters (130 feet). There are aisles covered with four small domes on each side of the prayer hall.
The sultan’s loge, which sits to the right of the mihrab, is supported by 10 marble columns recycled from earlier Byzantine churches. An ornate muezzin’s loge is directly opposite the mihrab in the center of the prayer hall.
Wings on both sides of the prayer hall were originally designed as guesthouses for traveling dervishes, but they were integrated into the prayer hall in the 16th century. The minarets sit atop these wings.
Dome
The dome has a diameter of 16.78 meters (56 feet). It’s supported by four columns, two semi-domes to the east and west, and two arches to the north and south.
There are 20 windows at the base of the dome and 7 windows on each semi-dome. The walls above the arches contain two tiers of windows.
Cemetery
Behind the mosque is a small Ottoman cemetery and three tombs. Two of the tombs belong to Sultan Bayezid II (built in 1514) and his daughter Selçuk Sultan (built in 1508).
The third tomb belongs to Mustafa Reşid Pasha (1800-1858), a Grand Vizier six times under Abdülmecid I and the chief architect behind the Tanzimat reforms. His tomb was built in 1858 by the Fossati brothers. He’s buried along with his sons Mehmet Cemil Pasha, Ali Galip Pasha, and Salih Bey. His daughter Adile Sultan is buried in an open grave next to the tomb.
Biography of Bayezid II
Bayezid II (b. 1447, Didymoteicho – d. 1512, Abalar, Havsa) was the 8th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (r. 1481-1512). There’s substantial circumstantial evidence he took the throne by poisoning his father, Mehmed the Conqueror. Bayezid II is best known for evacuating Jews and Muslims expelled from Spain during the Spanish Inquisition in 1492 and inviting them to live in the Ottoman Empire. Apparently, he also rejected a plea by Christopher Columbus for financial support to discover new trade routes. His son, Selim I, forced him to abdicate on April 25, 1512. Bayezid II and died one month later on his way to retirement in Demotika (now Didymoteicho, Greece).
Bayezid II Mosque Complex
The Bayezid II Mosque was part of a large complex at including a madrasa, hamam, soup kitchen, caravanserai, and primary school. Those buildings are scattered throughout Beyazıt Square. The soup kitchen and caravanserai are now the Beyazıt State Library. A couple other structures are covered below.
Bayezid II Madrasa
On the west side of Beyazıt Square is the Bayezid II Madrasa (II. Bayezid Medresesi). It was built as part of the Bayezid II Mosque Complex and completed in 1507. The architect is thought to have been Yusuf Bin Papas, a Greek brought up in the devşirme system. Each cell had a fireplace and niche, with two lower windows and one upper window.
The madrasa was damaged in an earthquake in 1509 and much of it had to be rebuilt. It was in a dilapidated state by the early 20th century and it was restored between 1940 and 1943. The entrance gate was demolished in 1940, while the walls enclosing the courtyard were demolished in 1956. From 1943 to 1983, it served as the Istanbul Municipal Museum followed by the Istanbul Municipal Library. The madrasa later became the Turkish Foundation Museum of Calligraphy (Türk Vakıf Hat Sanatları Müzesi). The museum was closed and the building was under renovation during my last few visits to Istanbul.
Bayezid II Hamam
Further west towards Laleli is the Bayezid II Hamam (II. Bayezid Hamamı). It was built by Gülbahar Hatun (1453-1505), the wife of Sultan Bayezid II and mother of Sultan Selim I, and was the largest bath in Istanbul. The bath was probably completed in 1507. Fragments from the triumphal arch of the Forum of Theodosius were used in its construction.
The Bayezid II Hamam was damaged by fire in 1714 and renovated. Patrona Halil (1690-1730), the leader of an uprising that deposed Sultan Ahmed III in 1730, once worked there as an attendant. In fact, the bath is known by many people as the Patrona Halil Hamam (Patrona Halil Hamamı).
The hamam ceased to function in the 1930s. The building was then used as a warehouse for many years and fell into disrepair by the end of the 20th century. In 2000, it was given to Istanbul University, which restored it from 2003 to 2010. They began the process of converting it into a museum in May 2013, and the Bayezid II Turkish Bath Cultural Museum finally opened on May 27, 2015.
Architecture of the Bayezid II Hamam
The Bayezid II Hamam is a double bath with a men’s and women’s section. The men’s section features a large entrance portal that earned the bath the nickname Great Bathhouse (Hamam-ı Kebir). Each section had a large domed chamber, the undressing room (camekân); a warm room (ılıklık); and a hot room (hararet). The women’s undressing room is slightly smaller than the men’s side and functions as the entrance to the museum.
The warm rooms have a central dome with three domed wings and two domed rooms in each corner between them.
The hot rooms are arranged in a cross shape. They have a central dome with four wings, each with their own dome, and another domed room in each corner.
Two of the small corner rooms in the hot rooms between the women’s and men’s sections show how the baths looked before and after restoration. The room in the women’s section is fully restored while the room in the men’s section is partially restored, with cracks showing in the floor and broken wash basins. There are also some unrestored sections of stucco decorations along the walls.
Visiting the Bayezid II Turkish Bath Cultural Museum
The Bayezid II Turkish Bath Cultural Museum (II. Bayezid Türk Hamam Kültürü Müzesi) highlights the importance of Turkish baths in Ottoman life. It’s open weekdays from 9am to 4pm and admission is free (as of July 2023). The museum is operated by Istanbul University. Overall, it’s very nicely presented and worth a visit. I spent about 30 minutes inside.
Collection of the Museum
The collection of the Bayezid II Turkish Bath Cultural Museum contains both archaeological and ethnographic artifacts. The archaeological items are on display in the women’s warm room. They include Byzantine and Ottoman architectural fragments found in and around the Bayezid II Hamam. Many were discovered during the restoration process.
The ethnographic items are on display in the women’s and men’s hot section as well as the men’s warm section. Most of the items were donated and come from different cities in Turkey. Metal items include bowls; children’s washbowls; pitchers; coffee cup trays; large round trays; copper basins; buckets; water churns; copper cups; copper coffee pots; coffee containers; copper pots; coffee roasters; brass candle holders; and tin lanterns with glass.
Weaved items include cotton towels; silk and cotton loincloths; cotton napkins; thin cotton handkerchiefs; cotton, wool, and satin bags; wool and felt prayer rugs; cheesecloth headscarves; wool bath gloves; velvet soap containers; skirts; and a petticoat. Other items include wooden bath clogs, olive oil soap, and horn and ivory combs.
Along the walls in each room are photos, drawings, historic accounts, and other important information about the history of Turkish baths.
