Guide
Also known as the Hacı Mustafa Ağa Mosque, this is the oldest mosque in the town of Koçarlı and stands centrally, inside the market. It was built between 1753 and 1756. It has been repaired several times, the first of those repairs in the 1850s, and most recently a few years ago to undo the damage done and to stop the spread of concrete.
The mosque is square in plan and raised two metres above the ground. Because of that height the porch is reached by a stair of eleven steps rising from two directions. In front of the stair is a semicircular ablution fountain with eight taps, faced with marble worked in various motifs.
Over the square plan sits an octagonal dome, buttressed on four sides; on the four faces without buttresses there are windows to light the interior. The minaret, with a single balcony, stands at the south-west corner. On every side but the south there are porticoes carried on wooden posts; since they stand high above the ground they are railed to prevent falls.
West of the mosque is a small and neglected graveyard holding the graves of some of the Cihanoğulları family and of some of the clerics who served here.
The windows are set in two tiers. Those below are larger and made chiefly of wood; those above are smaller and ornamented inside in the baroque manner. The area around the mihrab is likewise worked in baroque, and above the mihrab is a hand-painted panorama of Mecca and the Kaaba with a verse written above it. Compositions on various subjects are painted on the walls as well, and baroque motifs appear on the minbar, which is mostly of marble. Considerable craftsmanship can also be seen in the woodwork of the doors, the windows and the gallery ceiling.
