Guide
The Yıldırım Bayezid Mosque in Bolu was the centre of a complex built in 1382 by Bayezid I, comprising a medrese and a library, though no trace of either survives today. The mosque itself has been rebuilt: the original, probably a timber building, burned in 1891 and was rebuilt in 1899 as a single-domed mosque. It was badly damaged in the earthquake of 1944 and took its present form through the repairs that followed, and after the earthquake of 1999 it was restored in keeping with its original state.
It is built of cut stone on two levels. The lower level holds shops and storerooms. The upper level consists of a square main space, a two-storey gallery on the north, and the porch. The main space is enclosed by high walls and covered by a dome on a polygonal drum. The gallery is wide enough to cover the porch as well, and is roofed by domes and vaults in two rows. Many-sided minarets stand at the northwest and northeast corners. The mosque is in the Buyukcami quarter in the centre of Bolu.
