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Dick Osseman | profile | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gebze: Çoban Mustafa Paşa complex tree view | thumbnails | slideshow | map

Gebze: Çoban Mustafa Paşa complex

Çoban Mustafa Paşa mosque in Gebze (some 40 kilometers east of Istanbul across the Bosporus).

I had asked advice about Sinan mosques I had overlooked or neglected so far, and this was purportedly one of them. However, from an article by Heba Nayel Barakat which I found on the web (“Further observations on the Çoban Mustafa Paşa mosque at Gebze”) I understand that it must be doubted if this mosque, with its strong Mamluk influences, was by Sinan. After visiting it I agree with its author, in that I think there is a fair chance part of the complex (the “külliye”) was by Sinan, but that the mosque and its marble decorations was by a Husam Kalfa, who used the polychromed marble that had been ordered by Çoban Mustafa Paşa during his (short, six months) stay in Cairo as Viceroy for that purpose, that is: use in the mosque.

The same articles states Sinan probably designed, at a later stage, after Kalfa had designed the mosque, the main entrance and the surrounding wall as well as a neighboring bath: caravansaray, türbe, medrese, hans and “their masterly arrangement”.

Whoever designed it: the mosque is a joy. I first visited during Ramadan on a day when, for reasons I do not know, prayers and Koran recitation lasted much longer than I was used to. I had been in the mosque for a few minutes when someone started a conversation. After some five or ten minutes that ended, but almost immediately the imam started a service. I decided to leave the mosque, take pictures of the complex, and return after half an hour, when I expected the service to be over. It was not: the mosque was filled to the brim by men listening to a recitation that I later took to be the Koran. Which went on and on. After another hour I gave up: I had to travel back to Istanbul which would take at least two hours, and there was no end to the recitation in sight. Half a year later I did return to the mosque and managed a few more pictures of its fascinating interior with its polychromed marble.

Most pictures are in the sub-galleries, on this gallery itself only a few rather general pictures remain.
Çoban Mustafa Paşa Mosque Son cemaat yeri
Çoban Mustafa Paşa Mosque Son cemaat yeri
Çoban Mustafa Paşa Mosque Interior
Çoban Mustafa Paşa Mosque Interior
Çoban Mustafa Paşa Mosque Mausoleum
Çoban Mustafa Paşa Mosque Mausoleum
Çoban Mustafa Paşa complex Other buildings
Çoban Mustafa Paşa complex Other buildings
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1051.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1051.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1061.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1061.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex december 2015 5426.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex december 2015 5426.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1067.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1067.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex december 2015 5355.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex december 2015 5355.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 0997.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 0997.jpg
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Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 0998.jpg
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Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 0999.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1036.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1036.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1037.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1037.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1041.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1041.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1052.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1052.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1054.jpg
Gebze Coban Mustafa Pasa complex 2015 1054.jpg