At the top of Aktaş Sokağı in the İç Hisar quarter of Ankara, the Alaaddin Mosque looks modest from outside: a plastered building with a tiled roof, its walls of cut stone and rubble mixed with all kinds of reused ancient blocks. The inscription on its minber dates the first mosque on this site to 1178, and it takes its name from the Seljuk ruler Alaaddin, in whose reign it was repaired.
Over the centuries, repeated repairs have cost the building much of its original character, so what makes it worth seeing are the details: the minber dated 1178, the ancient column capitals in the porch, and the repair inscriptions above the door.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Ankara as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 0.4 °C in January to 23.6 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in May (52 mm) and lightest in August (13 mm). Long-term means for 1927-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
