Ortaköy Mosque

Early photograph of the mosque (taken between 1854 and 1867) showing original fluted 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.[1] 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).[a] 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.[8][9][5]

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.[10] 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.[10][11]

Ortaköy Mosque in the first quarter of the 20th century

A 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.[12][13][14]

^ Türkyılmaz, Çiğdem (Spring 2015). "Interrelated Values of Cultural Landscapes of Human Settlements: Case of Istanbul". Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 222: 502–509. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.141. ^ Wharton 2015, p. 115. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ M. Bloom, Jonathan; S. Blair, Sheila, eds. (2009). "Balyan [Balian]". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. p. 259. ISBN 9780195309911. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Müller-Wiener, Martina (2014). "Balyan, family of architects". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three. Brill. ISBN 9789004161658. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ M. Bloom, Jonathan; S. Blair, Sheila, eds. (2009). "Balyan [Balian]". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. pp. 259–260. ISBN 9780195309911. ^ a b Gunduz, Filiz (2007). "Ortaköy Camii". TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-01-24. ^ Alaboz, Murat (July 2014). "STRUCTURAL RESPONSE OF ORTAKOY BUYUK MECIDIYE MOSQUE IN ISTANBUL". International Masonry Society: 13. ^ "BAŞBAKAN ERDOĞAN BÜYÜK MECİDİYE CAMİİ'NDE". Milliyet (in Turkish). 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2023-09-05. ^ "Istanbul's historic mosque at Ortakoy reopened". Türkiye Newspaper (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-09-05. ^ Sabah, Daily (2014-06-06). "PM opens restored Ortaköy Mosque". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 2023-09-05.

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