Burmalı Minare Camii

Amasya, Turkey

The Burlami Minare Camii is situated on the south bank of the Yeşilırmak near the old town center of Amasya. The mosque's name, meaning "Mosque of the Spiral Minaret," derives from the shaft of its minaret, which is carved into a spiral. An inscription plaque above the portal states that the mosque constructed during the reign of Seljuq sultan Ghiyath al-Din Kaykhusraw II (r. 1237-1246/634-644 AH) through an endowment created by the vizier Ferruh Bey and his brother Yusuf al-Khazin. The building suffered damage from an earthquake and fire in the late sixteenth-early seventeenth century AD/late tenth-early eleventh century AH and its minaret was rebuilt in its current spiraling form in 1730-1731/1143 AH.

The mosque is a rectangular structure covered by a flat roof and entered on its north side through a large portal. This portal is arched and contains a frame with carved decoration. Flanking the portal on the east (left) is an octagonal tomb tower with a conical vault resting on a large plinth. On the west (right) side of the entrance, the mosque's famous minaret rises also from a large stone plinth. The shaft of the tomb tower is plain except for muqarnas corbelling below the vault and carved decorations around the windows on its north and west faces.

The rectangular prayer hall of the mosque is oriented north-south, toward the qibla. The space is divided by three aisles running along this north-south axis, each of these three bays long. While the side aisles have barrel vaults, the central aisle leading from entrance portal to mihrab is distinguished by three small domes resting on octagonal drums.

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