Guide
The Yıldırım Bayezid Mosque at Mudurnu was built in 1382 by Bayezid I while he was still a prince, together with a bath and a medrese. The mosque is a nearly square rectangle, and its interest lies in the dome: 19.50 metres across, resting on squinches carried by pointed arches on eight wall piers, it shows that large domes were beginning to be attempted in early Ottoman architecture.
The porch takes the form of a recessed arch like an iwan at the centre, with a small fluted dome at the entrance. The main door sits within a large niche, rectangular and framed by big marble jambs, with curved imposts ornamenting the upper corners. On the north the gallery, carried on eight wooden columns, curves inwards on the axis of the main door. The mihrab niche is many-sided, with a stepped hood. Almost the whole of the walls is rubble stone, and the eaves mouldings are plain and chamfered. The massive construction left room for very few windows, and the dome drum is taller on the outside than usual. The minaret has a short cylindrical shaft on a square stone base. The mosque has been repaired at various times but remains true to its original form.
