Küçük Mecidiye Mosque

The Küçük Mecidiye Mosque is a historical Ottoman Mosque located in the Beşiktaş district of the European side of Istanbul – not to be confused with the Büyük Mecidiye Mosque (Ortaköy Mosque), which is also located in Beşiktaş. The Küçük Mecidiye Mosque is located on Çırağan Street at the entrance of Yıldız Park. Çırağan Palace is located in Çırağan Street within the distance of 150 meters. Also, the Beşiktaş police Station is located just across the mosque. In the past, there was a Beşiktaş Recruiting Office instead of the Beşiktaş police Station at the same place.

Garabet balyan and Nigoğos balyan were commissioned by Sultan Abdülmecid for the construction of the Küçük Mecidiye Mosque. Both Garabet Balyan and Nigoğos Balyan were members of the notable Armenian Balyan Family, who served the Ottoman Dynasty for five generations between the 18^th and 19^th centuries as court architects of Ottoman Sultans. By the orders of Sultan Abdülmecid, the mosque was built at the midpoint between the Yıldız, Dolmabahçe and Çırağan Palaces in 1848. Because concrete grout of the mosque was prepared by soil from the Kaaba, the mosque was called Teşrifiye Mosque in the 20^th century as the Kaaba is consecrated by Muslims. Teşrifiye literally means being crowned with. As with all other Ottoman Mosques, Küçük Mecidiye Mosque is part of an Ottoman Social Complex with identical names. A madrasah, caravansary and an elementary school were located near the mosque as well. The caravansary used to host the soldiers who crossed to the Asian Side. The Küçük Mecidiye Mosque is also known as the Misafir Mosque because, the Çırağan neighborhood that houses the mosque, does not include any settlements – “Misafir” literally means guest. However, neither the caravansary nor the other buildings endured today except the mosque itself.

The Küçük Mecidiye Mosque was designed in a baroque style with only one minaret. The mosque itself takes about 400 meters-square space. With its courtyard, the mosque takes approximately 1600 meters-square space. On the entrance door of courtyard, there are both a construction epitaph that belongs to the poet Ziver Pasha, written by Mustafa İzzet Effendi, and the Sultan Abdülmecid's Signature.