Guide
The mosque stands in the İslam quarter of the Mazgirt district of Tunceli. The source gives its date as 1252 and says it was built for Elti Hatun, sister of Uzun Hasan, ruler of the Akkoyunlu — two statements that do not agree with one another, and the source does not resolve them.
The building is rectangular and made of cut stone. It carries two inscriptions, and there is a further inscription on the door that can no longer be read. A fountain adjoins the north front.
A story is told about its founding. Elti Hatun, having fallen ill, expected that she would die, and asked her brother not to bury her in the ground because she feared snakes. Uzun Hasan listened to her and had the mosque built, and after her death hung her body from the ceiling on a chain. When he went to the mosque the next day he saw a snake on the coffin and understood that the right thing was to bury his sister in the earth. Three graves stand today beneath the chain hanging from the ceiling, said to be those of Elti Hatun, of Uzun Hasan's niece and of his mother.
