Guide
The Great Mosque at Battalgazi, the old Malatya, was built in 1224 in the reign of the Seljuk ruler Alaeddin Keykubad, and its inscription names the architects as Yakup bin Ebubekir el-Malati and Mansur bin Yakup. A simple rule helps in reading the building: the brick parts belong to the original mosque and the stone parts are later additions. The Ministry describes it as the first and only example in Anatolia of the four-iwan plan of the great Seljuk mosques of Iran. The core of that plan is the inner courtyard, with its garden and pool at the centre, adjoining the dome before the mihrab.
The decoration is what to look at. Geometric stars and interlace in turquoise and aubergine tile mosaic, the inscription surviving on the face of the arch, and columns sheathed in tile mosaic in zigzag patterns are the striking features. The inner face of the dome carries an immense tile decoration over brick facing, and the springing of the dome is worked in woven brick in a geometry of triangles. The mosque is in the centre of the district and open to visitors every day.
