Parlı Safa Mosque And Minaret
Safa Mosque, also known as Parlı Mosque, is a historical mosque located in the Sur district of Diyarbakır. It is also known as Şeyh Safâ, İpariye, İparla, Palo.
Although the exact date of construction and the builder are not known, it is accepted that it was built by Uzun Hasan (1454-1478) at the request of Cüneyd-i Safavi, the grandfather of Shah Ismail, the son of Sheikh Ibrahim Safi. Although it is estimated to have been built during the Akkoyunlu period, it reminds of Ottoman architecture since it was repaired between (1531-1532). Evliya Çelebi refers to this building as "İpariye" and says that its walls smell musk in rainy weather.
It is a cross-planned masonry mosque with an octagonal drum, a single middle dome, sitting on two feet on each side and on the main wall of the sanctuary on the north and south. The sanctuary is enlarged by a dome with pendentives at the corners on both sides and a three-section nave covered with barrel vaults in the middle. This part is a very bright building that receives light from twenty-four windows: three windows on each of its two side walls, two windows close to the corners of the mihrab wall, windows in their symmetry on the entrance wall, a small window on the door, and four pulley windows. It has a stone mihrab with ten rows of muqarnas casings inside an arch with colonnades on both sides and three slices on top. The stone pulpit, on the other hand, has geometric and vegetal decorations. Inside the mosque, four pillars made of cut stone carry the dome, and the stone legs are opened to the sides at 45 degree angles to pass to the sides. The main dome sits on the main walls in the north and south. The minaret is located in the northeast corner of the mosque. The base of the minaret has a square plan and was built of black stone.
