İskender Pasha Mosque (Diyarbakır)
Iskender Pasha Mosque is a mosque located in the Sur district of Diyarbakir. The construction of the mosque was started in 1551 or 1554 by the order of the Circassian Iskender Pasha, the 12th Ottoman Governor of Diyarbekir Province, and was completed in 1557. Although it is stated in some sources that Mimar Sinan is recorded as the architect of the mosque, there is no clarity on this issue.
The mosque has a single dome and a square plan. It differs only slightly with two small spaces in the form of a tabhane, which are not connected to the harim but adjacent to it. According to the sanctuary, the narthex, which overflows on its side facades, has five sections. The five-eyed narthex of this mosque, whose large central dome presses on low squinches, collapsed in an old date, and during the repair in 1953, the portico was covered with a flat reinforced concrete plaque. While the narthex, which was built on seven arches, overflowed to the sides, a single-storey small cell was added adjacent to the harim, thus making the courtyard face wider and more magnificent. While the narthex was built only with basalt stone, alternating woven black and white stones were used on the body walls. As recorded in the charter, the mosque has a high dome and minaret.
Two cells were built in the east-west direction to the north of the mosque and these were abandoned and allocated for the strange people of science and wisdom. Again, in the northern space, an octagonal pool surrounded by an iron fence was built opposite the door, and two basins were placed in each slice for ablution.
The decorations in the mosque were applied on stone, marble and tiles. Stone ornaments were created by carving technique on limestone and basalt. Marble has been used sparingly in exterior architecture. In exterior architecture, ornamentation is used on facades and minarets.
