Saatli Mosque
mosque, former church building, in Ayvalık, Balıkesir, Turkey
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Overview
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The Saatli Mosque (Clock Mosque) stands in the Fevzipaşa-Vehbibey neighbourhood of Ayvalık, in Turkey's Balıkesir Province. It was built around 1850 as a Greek Orthodox church dedicated to Saint John (Ayos İanni, or Agios Ioannis). The building follows an Orthodox cross plan and was converted into a mosque in 1928. Its present name refers to the clock tower that replaced the top of the former bell tower. The church building covers 375 square metres and is 24 metres tall, which made it the second-largest church in the Ayvalık district. The minaret beside it is 44 metres high.
History
This text was compiled from sourced information with AI assistance and has not yet been reviewed by an editor. Please report any errors.
The building was erected around 1850 as a church for the Greek community of Ayvalık. After the events of 1914–1923 and the subsequent population exchange between Greece and Turkey, it was converted into a mosque in 1928.
Following the conversion it was first called the Bazaar Mosque (Çarşı Camii). The bell tower built by the Greek community was kept, while the historic icons were removed and the frescoes were painted over.
An earthquake in 1944 destroyed the upper part of the bell tower, which was then turned into a clock tower. Since then the mosque has been known as Saatli Camii, the Mosque with the Clock.
In September 2003 a storm brought the minaret down onto the church building, damaging its brick-roofed dome.
From Wikipedia
Agios Ioannis (Greek: Άγιος Ιωάννης, Turkish: Ayos İanni Kilisesi), meaning Saint John, is a former Greek Orthodox church built in 1850 in the coastal town of Ayvalık (known as Kydonies by the locals) — located in present-day western Turkey’s Balıkesir Province — which was formerly inhabited primarily by Greeks. Following the massacres of local Greeks during the Greek genocide between 1912 and 1923, and the subsequent violent expulsion of the survivors, the building was converted into a Sunni mosque in 1928.
After its conversion, the church — originally built on an Orthodox cross-shaped plan — was initially named the Bazaar Mosque (Çarşı Camii); the bell tower, originally constructed by the local Greeks, was retained. However, the historic icons were removed, and the artistic frescoes were painted over.
Since the top of the bell tower was destroyed in a 1944 earthquake and subsequently converted into a clock tower, the mosque has been known as the Mosque with the Clock (Saatli Camii). In September 2003, a storm caused the minaret to collapse onto the church, damaging its historic brick-roofed dome.
Standing 24 meters tall and covering an area of 375 m², the church is the second-largest in the district of Ayvalık; the minaret built alongside it stands at 44 meters high.
Source: Wikipedia, article “Clock Mosque, Ayvalık”; quoted unchanged under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Read more on Wikipedia ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources
© OpenStreetMap katkıcıları (ODbL): https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1194139508
Wikipedia (de): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saatli-Moschee
Wikipedia (en): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_Mosque,_Ayval%C4%B1k
Wikipedia (tr): https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saatli_Cami