Amasya's Fethiye Camii was a Byzantine church before it was a mosque. The church is thought to have been built in the 7th century by Helena, daughter of the emperor Phocas. Fetih Gazi, who governed Amasya in the Danishmendid period, had it converted and gave it the name it still carries.
Very little of the church survives to be seen, and the reason is practical rather than historical: the walls have been entirely plastered and painted white, so the original masonry cannot be made out. What does survive is the plan. The mosque is built on the apse of the church, which is why its east front is angled into a half-hexagon. You enter through a small door in the north wall; the west front was later closed off as a wide arched niche, with windows set into it at two levels.
The mosque had no minaret at first. One was added in 1883 by Incezade Hacı Mehmet.
Getting there
- Access
- On Fetih Sokak in the Fethiye neighbourhood.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Amasya as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 2.7 °C in January to 23.9 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in May (55 mm) and lightest in August (10 mm). Long-term means for 1961-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
