İlyas Bey Mosque and Foundation
The well-preserved, carefully maintained İlyas Bey Mosque is one of Miletus’ most popular tourist destinations. Today, it is located halfway between the museum and the theater. It is part of a larger complex (külliye/imaret) consisting of the mosque, its adjacent buildings, a cemetery and 2 baths. This külliye was restored comprehensively between 2008 and 2011. Such public building complexes were often foundations (Tr. vakıf) owned by wealthy individuals or rulers during the Turkish Emirate and the Ottoman Empire. This complex was named after its founder, İlyas Bey, leader of the principality (Beylik) of Menteşe between 1402 and 1424. At the time, Balat (medieval Miletus) belonged to this principality. A domed building in the northern section of the mosque was probably intended as the founder’s tomb, but İlyas Bey was buried elsewhere, in Beçin.
Inside the external walls, the mosque with its forecourt, which has its own walls, is the largest building. Today, a newly built passageway connects the courtyard with one of the surrounding small rooms. The orientation of the courtyard and the surrounding rooms, which may have been classrooms of the foundation school, is only approximately aligned with that of the mosque itself. This courtyard also adjoins the aforementioned small, domed building. Seen from the courtyard, the mosque’s facade is clad in marble. It has colorful columns and a large arch perched centrally atop the entrance. Ancient architectural segments (spolia) can be seen across the masonry. The mosque itself has a large brick dome with a diameter of 14 meters. In its northeastern corner, there used to stand the minaret (the tower from which the call to prayer is announced), then accessible through a narrow spiral staircase inside the building wall, which was more than 2 meters thick. Inside the southeastern wall, there is a prayer niche (mihrab) facing towards Mecca. According to an inscription, it was built by a stonemason called Nasreddin Altana. Many of the domes are decorated with stalactite vaulting (muqarnas) on the inside.
To the north of the mosque and the rooms surrounding its forecourt, there are 2 baths belonging to the foundation. The smaller of the 2 consists of only 3 rooms; this was the women’s section. The larger bath consists of a central, domed room with adjacent, smaller rooms on all sides and in the corners. Its interior walls were decorated with stucco and graffiti depicting ships. A large, underfloor hypocaust system heated the baths.
As well as these main buildings, several sales rooms, workshops, and even a furnace were found in the enclosed area of the mosque. There are another few small rooms next to the western wall, which may have been used to accommodate the members of the school of this complex. To the east of the İlyas Bey complex is a large, paved street from the same time. Underneath it were ancient water pipes that were probably still used when the mosque was active.
Text: Lisa Steinmann
References
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K. Wulzinger, Das islamische Milet, Milet 3,4 (Berlin 1935).
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M. B. Tanman – L. K. Elbirlik (eds.), Balat İlyas Bey Külliyesi / İlyas Bey Complex. Tarih Mimari Restorasyon / History Architecture Restoration (Istanbul 2011).