Merzifon – Kara Mustafa Paşa Mosque

The mosque was commissioned by Kara Mustafa Paşa and was built in 1666. The outer walls of this rectangular building are masoned with hewn stone. The portico has three cloisters created by four pillars adjoined by lancet arches and it has a wooden roof. The main space dedicated to worship is capped with a large dome. The space in the corners of the octagonal drum of the dome, which is adorned with inscriptions typical of the 19th cc., is supported by octagonal counterweight towers giving the building an aesthetic unity. The mosque is illuminated through two small windows on each facade of the drum of the dome and the six windows in two lines of three on each of the main walls.

One of the most striking features of the mosque is the fountain in the patio. The fountain, presumably built in the 19 cc. is mainly built of wood. The pointed copper cone of the fountain is supported by eight wooden piers.
The distinctive property of the fountain is the carvings on its ceiling panel. The carvings are known to be made by Zileli Hasan in 1875. There are three different landscapes depicted in these carvings. The first one is a landscape from İstanbul. Inspected closely, Galata and Beyazid Towers, Golden Horn and Galata Bridges, Sultanahmet, Hagiasophia and Süleymaniye Mosques are easily discerned. The second landscape in which the castle, the mills on the river and Beyazid Mosques are discernible is from Amasya. The third landscape is believed to depict the Ottoman army during the siege of
Vienna. The prevailing tendencies of the period banned picturing man. Therefore, instead of people there are cannons, tents and different weapons in this scene.
The entrance facing Taşhan is also worth seeing. The deep arch of the entrance, with a small cubicle above it, is built of varicolored stones. The patio also houses two old sycamores with a diameter of approximately three meters.

Fethiye Mosque

This building, once an old Byzantine church, has been
converted into a mosque. The church is believed to have
been constructed on the orders of Helena, the daughter
of the Bizantine Emperor Phocas in the 7th cc. During the
reign of Danişmendliler, this large church was converted
into a mosque by Fetih Gazi, the governor of Amasya
and named as Fethiye Camii. The mosque has worn out
considerably in time. Fethiye Mosque which was repaired
and reopened in 1956 was last restored in 2006 by the
General Directorate of Charitable Foundations.
In 1883, Incezade Hacı Mehmet annexed a minaret to
the mosque, which originally had none. Since little has
survived from the original structure of the church and
remaining walls have been plastered and painted white,
the identification of the features of the church has been
impossible. The eastern facade of the mosque, which
is aligned east/ west, is styled in a fashion to form a
hexagon. The entrance is through a small door on the
north facade. On the west facade, there are two rows of
windows placed underneath a wide arched niche.

Çilehane Mosque

Yakup Paşa, one of the ameers of Çelebi Mehmet had this mosque built in 1413. The main building consists of dervish lodges, the masjid and the suffering rooms. To the west of the western entrance is the edifice that is assumed to be a tomb.
The bearer walls are masoned using broken stones and red mortar. This masonry is supported by two
lines of brick aligned horizontally. The entrance to the mosque is through a large, vaulted platform built of hewn stone. The door is arched and the arched windows illuminating the interior are framed with marble.
Once inside through the western entrance, the masjid and the suffering rooms are on the right and the tomb, along with the dervish lodges, is on the left hand side.
The mosque and the lodges are domed structures.
The suffering rooms which were heavily damaged by the earthquake in 1939 were restored by the General Directorate of Charitable Foundations in 1964.

Bayezid Paşa Mosque

Beyazid Paşa, later to become grand vizier, had this mosque built in 1414 on the eastern bank of
Yeşilırmak, across the Künç Bridge in Bayezid Paşa District. Other than a few details, the inverse T shaped building resembles the mosques built in Bursa during the same period. These kinds of mosques are known as Angular or Bursa Type.
The most interesting feature of this building with its rather graceful structure and exquisite masonry is the portico on its north façade. The six square pillars in the portico are adjoined to one another and the side walls with heavy lancet arches so as to create five departments. Each department has a dome supported by octagonal socles ornamented with Turkish triangles.
The pillars are masoned of hewn stones upto the arches. The arches connecting the pillars are built
of red and white marble. The arches themselves are surrounded by slightly protruding marble contours.
ceilings of this part of the building are adorned with
patterns of intermingling leaves and branches. The
wooden entrance door is richly carved.
The interior of the mosque consists of two departments. The farther one with the shrine is smaller
than the other. The access to the wings on each side of the building is through the doors on the east and west walls of this space. Each part of the building has its separate dome.
The mosque has been restored by the General Directorate of Charitable Foundations in 2006.
Burmalı Minare Mosque and Cumudar Tomb Thanks to the arch shaped epigraph over the entrance,
the mosque is known to have been built by two brothers. Of these brothers, Said Ferruh is generally
accepted to be Necmeddin Ferruh Bey, one of the viziers of Seljuk Sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev
II. His brother is Haznedar Yusuf. The construction of the mosque is
generally dated to sometime between 1237 and 1244. The mosque, referred to as the Mahkeme Mosque by Evliya Çelebi in his

II. Bayezid Külliyesi (The Kulliyyah of Bayezid II)

II. Bayezid Külliyesi (The Kulliyyah of Bayezid II) Beyazid II Kulliyyah was commissioned by Shahzadah Ahmet, Governor of Amasya in the name of his father Sultan Beyazid II. The architect of the kulliyyah, consisting of a mosque, a medresseh, a mission and a fountain, was Şemseddin Ahmet. The tomb, annexed to the building later on, belongs to Shahzadah Osman, Shahzadah Ahmet’s son who had died prematurely.
One of the most beautiful samples of side-spaced or angular types, the mosque consists of two square
rooms divided by a large arch and two additional spaces on both sides roofed with three domes each.
The middle section is roofed with two domes, each of which has sixteen windows on their octagonal drums. There are rich handcarvings above the arches of the windows and the interior surfaces of the domes. The wooden shutters of the windows are perfect samples of the 15th century woodwork. The portico on the north is roofed with five domes supported by six circular columns adjoined by five lancet arches. The upper panes of the windows of the portico are ornamented by blue and white tiles. The minarets on both sides have one balcony each. The one on the left hand side of the portico is vertically striated whereas the one on the right is patterned in featherstitch style. The three lined
marble epigraph above the magnificient main portal of the mosque, decorated with muqarnas patterns, was written by Hattat Şeyh Hamdullah. The dodecagonal fountain placed in the middle of the patio is covered by a dodecagonal pyramid supported by twelve pillars.
The U shaped medresseh is to the west of the mosque. The medresseh, built adjacent to the western
wall of the patio, consists of a large inner garden, surrounded by domed porticos and the student cells
beyond these porticoes. The domed square classroom, built above an octagonal drum is right across the portal to the north. Sultaniye Medresseh, referred to be the one in the best condition by Evliya Çelebi, has been used as the public library since 1922.
The L shaped mission is to the east of the mosque.
The rectangular main spaces of the mission is vaulted.
In front of these spaces, facing the mosque are the porticoes roofed with miniature domes. The rectangular hall of the mission is in use as the Scaled Model of Amasya Museum.
The square planned, small building to the northwest of the mosque, nearby the medresseh, is the
‘muvakkithane’ which is used to determine the time of prayer according to the position of the sun. Both One of the sycamores in II. Bayezid Külliyesi (The Kulliyyah of Bayezid II)
the interior and the ceiling of the muvakkithane, along with the upper panes of the windows are ornamented with handcarvings. Hacı Hüseyin Efenedi had the muvakkithane built in 1842.
The sycamores, shading the garden for over five hundred years, from both sides of the fountain were
planted during the construction of the mosque.

TOURISTIC GUIDE FOR AMASYA HISTORY OF AMASYA

Amasya is one of the oldest settlements of Anatolia.
Archeological studies indicate that the history of the city goes back to the Chalcolithic Age, 7500 years before now or 5500 years BC. Through out these years, Amasya has been home to a number of civilizations that have settled here before the Turks such as the Hittites, the Phrygians, the Kimmerian-Scythes, the Med-Persians, the Pontus, the Romans and the Byzantine. In the Turkicization of Anatolia, which started in 1071, Melik Ahmet Danişmend Gazi has conquered Amasya and started the hegemony of the Turks. The Danişmend-Seljuk have reigned in Amasya until the defeat in Kösedağ War in 1423 which led to a hundred-year Mogul-Ilkhanate reign in the region. Amasya was conquered by the Eretna in 1341. Shahzadah Beyazid conquered the city in 1386 and after a brief conflict with Kadı Burhaneddin, Amasya was acquired by the Ottomans for good after 1392.
Because of the impending threat posed by Tamerlane, Amasya was promulgated Shahzadah Sanjak in 1386 and has maintained its status until 1566. During this period, Amasya has hosted and served as a training ground for a total of twelve Shahzadahs, six of which assumed the Ottoman throne in the years to come. Çelebi Mehmet, who reinstated the declining Ottoman State after Ankara War in
1402 had governed the city and directed the recovery of the empire from Amasya.
Amasya, which had played a crucial role in the reinstation
of the Ottoman State, reassumed its role in the foundation of the state by the Amasya Circular through which Mustafa Kemal and his friends announced to the world their determination and resolution towards independence and the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in July 22, 1919.
GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
Located in the Middle Blacksea Region, Amasya is surrounded by Tokat in the East, Yozgat in the South, Çorum in the West and Samsun in the North. 336 km to Ankara and 671 km to İstanbul, the city is built upon rugged, uneven grounds. Among these tectonic ridges, there are fertile plains
available for agriculture.
TOURISTIC GUIDE FOR AMASYA
The city is surrounded by the Kırklar, Karaman, Lokman and Ferhat Mountains, ranging between 780 to 910 meters in height above the sea level. It is located on a valley, 400 meters above the sea level, created by the Yeşilırmak. 140 km of a total length of 519 km of Yeşilırmak passes through
Amasya. The speed and volume of the waters of Yeşilırmak varies greatly but the season with the highest flowrate is the rainy season in spring.
Amasya covers a region where the climates of the Blacksea and Central Anatolia Regions overlap. Therefore, there are significant differences between the climates of the mountains and he valleys, or the southern and the northern fronts of the mountains. The winters are mild and the summers are hot.
January is the coldest month of the year with an average temperature of 2,4°C, whereas July is the hottest month with an average temperature of 23.6°C.
ECONOMY
The economy of Amasya rests primarily on agriculture, the production and trade of agricultural products and marble industry.
The agricultural potential of the city is quite high thanks to the amount of available farmlands and floral variety. The diversity in the climate and type of land enables different species of agricultural products to be raised. Grain, sugar beet, onion, sunflower and opium poppy are common
products. However, Amasya is famous for its fruit. ‘Marble’ apple, which is grown in many regions of Turkey is at its best in Amasya and is therefore also known as Amasya apple.
Cherry orchards have recently become a frequent scene. High quality cherry, specially produced for foreign markets, has become a favorite product. Approximately 10% of the
cherry, export from Turkey is grown in Amasya. Peach is another fruit that is grown widely in Amasya. There are many other vegetables and fruit at are grown in and marketed from Amasya.
SCIENCE, CULTURE AND ARTS
Amasya is a city that has shaped its geography with its 7500 year-old history. It was enriched with the Turkish-Islamic culture during the reigns of Seljuk and Ottoman Empires.

TOURISTIC GUIDE FOR AMASYA
Many important personalities in the fields of science, politics and arts have been nurtured, have spent their lives and created their works in Amasya. This cultural opulence can be traced in every corner of the city. The city has been home to numerous shahzadahs and has been a fountain of theologists, sheikhs ul-islam and pashas or the palace.
World famous geographer Strabon was brn and lived in Amasya as well. Sabuncuzade Şerafeddin bin Ali, who has authored one of the most valuable pieces of work in the field of medicine, lived in Amasya and has acquired and shared his knowledge in the treatment of his patients in Darüşşifa.
Works of Sheikh Hamdullah, also known as the kiblah of scribes, who is one of the greatest talents of calligraphy, can be seen all over Amasya. Beyazid II with his apellation Adli, and the first poetess to collect her poems, Mihri Hatun produced their work here.
The tradition, started by these eminent figures only a bunch of whom has been mentioned here, is still alive today. Great masters of Turkish music, priceless hands of stone and woodwork and calligraphy, poets and writers who build worlds out of words have all been inspired by the infinite

resource that is Amasya. History and culture that brims Amasya overflows he city in the form of art.
WHERE TO STAY?
Where to stayAmasya provides its visitors with a variety of options to choose from. In and around the
city center, there are quality hotels as well as historical mansions aligned with the banks of Yeşilırmak adorning the river like a necklace. These hostels, with rooms which have been preserved or decorated as they used to be, help their visitors internalize the feeling of history throughout the duration of their stay.

PRESENTATION

With a documented history of 7500 years, Amasya is a typical Turkish city. This beautiful city, where you can find artefacts belonging to a time span of thousands of years, is an authentic
place with its historical buildings, cultural legacy and artistic elements that have survived to this day.
Generous waters of Yeşilırmak not only enrich the already fertile lands but also create an environment available for cultural development. Lives led along the riverside, social structure
of the city and the legacy of the surrounding region turns into a treasure in Amasya. Traces of this legacy can be seen in every aspect of life in the city from music to architecture, arts to
science and food to notion of living. This land of the Shahzadah, who has cradled and nurtured the
greatest sultans of history, has been a safe heaven all through history. With he artistic and architectural inheritance of its long history, Amasya is an important center of culture and tourism
today. Having stood out among other cities with the recent studies, aiming to exploit the touristic potential Amasya will continue its progress.
Our primary aim in this study was to provide a guide to meet the demands of the growing number of visitors coming to Amasya.
The main difficulty in the preparation of this guide was to decide which objects to include in this guide and which not. Inclusion of every item in the guide would make it too voluminous and
difficult to use. We eliminated some and compiled information about the others. The problem at this next stage was the description of the artefacts. All artefacts deserved a description that would last many pages, while we had to summarize each one to a few sentences. The space available for the photographs were limited but the high quality visual material at hand was abundant. We had difficulty choosing among these as well. Finally we came up with the guide you are holding in your hands now, although we feel unsatisfied because of what we had to leave out.
In this guide, which is intended to include the most important historical and cultural values, we made use of the information from the most reliable resources in the briefest way possible.
There might be occasional mistakes which we would be happy to correct in the coming issues.
We hope this guide to be of use for those who would like to get to know Amasya and would also like to thank everyone involved in the preparation of this guide which is prepared in both Turkish
and English.