Name of Monument:

Azebler Namazgah (open-air prayer area)

Location:

Gelibolu, Çanakkale, Turkey

Date of Monument:

Hegira Muharram 810 / June 1407

Architect(s) / master-builder(s):

Architect: Aşık bin Süleyman [‘Ashiq bin Sulayman] of Ladik.

Period / Dynasty:

Early Ottoman

Patron(s):

İskender bin Hacı Beşe.

Description:

The namazgah or open-air prayer area is a rectangular structure measuring 12.50 m x 10 m lengthwise, located north-east of Gelibolu town centre, on top of a hill overlooking the Dardanelles, in the Fener locality. The building is surrounded on the east, west and north by a low balustrade, and is entered through a marble entrance in the middle of the north side. The posts and lintel of the entrance are of re-used marble. Above the lintel is a lobed triangular pediment containing a foundation inscription. The south wall that is 8.30 m long, and 3.85 m high, has a mihrab at its centre which has a five-sided niche surmounted by a muqarnas conch. On either side of the mihrab there is a window, and at each end of the wall there is a minbar. The minbar at the southeast corner is plain, with no balustrade or dome. The minbar at the southwest corner has a marble entrance with a pointed arch and a domed baldachin supported on four square-sectioned marble pillars.
The low balustrades on the west, north and east sides are made of a single row of cut stone. The inner part of the south wall is of marble, while the outer portion is covered in marble and ashlar. The minbar in the southeast corner is made of cut stone, while the entrance on the north side and the minbar at the southwest corner are made of solid marble. The floor, too, is marble.
The Azebler Namazgah includes rich stonework decoration. On top of the south wall are two pediments, one over the mihrab and another on top of the minbar in the southeast corner. These have lobed edges and their inner surfaces are decorated with intricate floral decoration. The upper part of the mihrab canopy features superficial decoration with palmette motifs going in opposite directions.
Namazgahs are spaces for prayer with open roofs and sides. Built for use in the summer months; they are usually built on the outskirts of cities, in recreational areas, or on roads between neighbourhoods or cities. In addition, they were used as places to say goodbye to soldiers, travellers or pilgrims, and to pray for rain during times of drought. Namazgahs on intercity roads were also used as resting places. The principal components required for a namazgah are a mihrab or section of a column or wooden post to indicate the direction of prayer, a spring or well for ritual ablutions, a broad, clean space for prayer, and trees to protect the space from the sun. The Azebler Namazgah of Gelibolu was built so that soldiers of the Ottoman navy (azebs) would have a place in which to pray. The Azebler Namazgah is one of Anatolia's most magnificent due to its design, the materials used, and its detailed decoration.

View Short Description

Namazgahs are open-air places for prayer built generally outside cities and on inter-city roads to serve during the summer months. Such places were also used to say good-bye to departing soldiers or pilgrims or to pray communally at times of drought. The Azebler Namazgah in Gelibolu (ancient Gallipoli) was built to serve the soldiers of the Ottoman navy and is one of the most beautiful examples of such open-air places of prayer in its plan, materials and rich stonework decoration.

How Monument was dated:

The foundation inscription above the entrance indicates that the structure was built by Aşık bin Süleyman of Ladik. The patron's name and the date of construction are given in the inscription on the minbar in the west corner of the south wall. According to it, the prayer area was ordered built by a certain İskender bin Hacı Beşe in Muharram 810 (June 1407).

Selected bibliography:

Akmaydalı, H., “Mihrablı ve Minberli Namazgahlarımız [Our Namazgahs with Mihrab and Minbar]”, Vakıflar Dergisi [Journal of Waqfs], XXIII (1994), pp.123–44.
Ayverdi, E. H., Osmanlı Mi'marisinde çelebi ve II. Sultan Murad Devri 806–55 (1403–51) [The Reigns of çelebi and Sultan Murad II in Ottoman Architecture, 806–55 (1403–51)], Istanbul, 1989, pp.166–8.
Çakmak, Ş., “Azebler Namazgahı”, Erken Osmanlı Sanatı, Beyliklerin Mirası [Early Ottoman Art: The Legacy of the Emirates], Madrid, 1999, pp.169–170.

Citation of this web page:

Şakir Çakmak "Azebler Namazgah (open-air prayer area)" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;tr;Mon01;21;en

Prepared by: Şakir ÇakmakŞakir Çakmak

Dr Şakir Çakmak is an assistant professor in the Department of Archaeology and Art History of the Faculty of Letters, Ege University, Izmir. Born in Sarayköy, Turkey, in 1964, he graduated from that department in 1986. He started working as a research assistant in the same department in 1988. He completed his MA in 1991 with a thesis entitled “Turkish Monuments in Denizli Province (Mosques)” and his Ph.D. with the thesis “Portals in the Early Ottoman Period (1300–1500)” in 1999.

Translation by: Barry WoodBarry Wood

Barry Wood is Curator (Islamic Gallery Project) in the Asian Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He studied history of art at Johns Hopkins University and history of Islamic art and architecture at Harvard University, from where he obtained his Ph.D. in 2002. He has taught at Harvard, Eastern Mediterranean University, the School of Oriental and African Studies, and the Courtauld Institute of Art. He has also worked at the Harvard University Art Museums and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. He has published on topics ranging from Persian manuscripts to the history of exhibitions.
, İnci Türkoğluİnci Türkoğlu

İnci Türkoğlu has been working as a tourist guide and freelance consultant in tourism and publishing since 1993. She was born in Alaşehir, Turkey, in 1967. She graduated from the English Department of Bornova Anatolian High School in 1985 and lived in the USA for a year as an exchange student. She graduated from the Department of Electronic Engineering of the Faculty of Architecture and Engineering, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, and the professional tourist guide courses of the Ministry of Tourism in 1991. She worked as an engineer for a while. She graduated from the Department of Art History, Faculty of Letters, Ege University, Izmir, in 1997 with an undergraduate thesis entitled “Byzantine House Architecture in Western Anatolia”. She completed her Master's at the Byzantine Art branch of the same department in 2001 with a thesis entitled “Synagogue Architecture in Turkey from Antiquity to the Present”. She has published on art history and tourism.

Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: TR 31

RELATED CONTENT

 Artistic Introduction

 Timeline for this item

Islamic Dynasties / Period

Ottomans


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