The Ulu Camii stands in the centre of Bitlis, and when it was built is not known. Its inscription records only a repair: Ebu'l Muzaffer Muhammed restored it in 1150.
The one thing that marks it from outside is the minaret, which rises as a tower separate from the mosque under a conical cap on the qibla side. Its own inscription dates it to 1492. The provincial directorate is blunt about its present state: Ottoman in character, the minaret came out of restoration work with a plain appearance far from its original form.
Outside prayer times the mosque is open to visitors continuously.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Bitlis as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -4.2 °C in January to 23.1 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in March (196 mm) and lightest in August (7 mm). Long-term means for 2011-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
