Guide
The building stands on Vali Fuat Caddesi in the centre of Şanlıurfa. It was built as a church, and its proper name is the Church of the Twelve Apostles; it is also called the Church of the Holy Apostles. It has no inscription, so when it was built is not known.
According to the sources, the Varak Cross — kept at the historic Varak monastery in Van and of great importance in Christianity — was brought to Urfa in 1092 and placed in this church.
The popular name came from the building itself. In the Ottoman period there were elements resembling wind roses on it, and people called it the Fırfırlı church; when the church was converted to a mosque in 1956 the same name passed to the mosque. Before that conversion the building served for a time as a prison.
It is cut stone, a basilica of three aisles. The entrance on the west front is half-domed within and pointed-arched outside, made of pink marble, with the bell tower above it. The Arabic inscription on that door reads: enter in safety.
The conversion changed the east end. The apse was walled up and turned into a window; one of the south windows was made into the mihrab, and a stone minbar was built in front of the half-column at the middle of the south wall. Outside, the half-columns and ornament on the fronts are decorative elements in their own right, and the stonework on the west front and on the corner towers is what stands out in a building rich in carving.
