I am very grateful to the man who, when I was in Safranbolu, urged me to visit Beyşehir, not for the town itself, but for one thing only: the Eşrefoğlu Mosque. I made the easy trip from Konya by bus in September 2008, arriving shortly after noon (hence the harsh light).

The mosque dates from 1299 and was built by the son of the city’s founder. It is one of the best wooden mosques in Anatolia. With the Ulu Cami in Afyon of which I only have some old scanned slides it belongs to the hall type, with a flat roof. The central part is slightly raised. The roof rests on 40 wooden columns (pine) that have finely worked stalactite capitals. The bedesten across the square adjacent to the mosque supposedly houses the museum, but I found it closed.

I probably show too many pictures for many people’s liking, I myself had to stop myself from taking pictures and from just wandering about in this beautiful mosque. If you like the pictures, pay a visit to another fine wooden mosque, the Kasaba one.