Akşehi?r Ulu Cami?i?’de tuğla malzeme kullanımı üzeri?ne bi?r değerlendi?rme

Abstract

Brick as a construction material had been competently used by Turks in their architecture from the earlier periods. However, with the conquest of Anatolia, new construction materials and techniques were introduced or applied in Anatolian Turkish Architecture. The Great Mosque of Akşehir as one of the extra ordinary Anatolian Seljuk building, in terms of the use of brick construction material, was built at the beginning of the 13th century. First of all, the Great Mosque of Akşehir has the alternating brick and stone wall technique on the both sides of the main entrance. Secondly, the mosque has brick and re-used marble columns at the prayer hall. Besides, it has a dome over the mihrab and minbar part of the mosque but the side naives have flat wooden roofs. The differences in the superstructure and the materials of the columns indicate that the mosque experienced several building stages in time. Another distinctive featureof the mosque is difference in the shapes of the brick columns such as circular, hexagonal and square examples are evident. This article examines the use of brick material at The Great Mosque of Akşehir as well as evaluates and interprets the distinctive features of the mosque in Anatolian Seljuk Architecture. While it is possible to connect application of brick and stone alternating masonry with the early Ottoman or Byzantine architecture, on the other hand, specifically use of circular or hexagonal brick columns originates from the architectural tradition of Central Asia and Iran. Nevertheless these brick columns are not orginal and appered as a result of the restoration project that was conducted in 1960-1961.