Мечеть Баезида II в Стамбуле

Ottoman mosque built for Sultan Bayezid II

The Bayezid II Mosque (Beyazıt Camii, Bayezid Camii) is an early 16th century Ottoman imperial mosque located in Beyazıt Square in Istanbul, Turkey, near the ruins of the Forum of Theodosius of ancient Constantinople.

The Beyazid Mosque was commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II, and was the second large imperial mosque complex (or selatin mosque) to be erected in Istanbul after the conquest in 1453. The earlier imperial complex, the Fatih Mosque, was later destroyed by earthquakes and completely rebuilt in a different style. As a result, the Beyazid complex is the oldest imperial complex in Istanbul that is preserved in more or less its original form, making it of considerable historical and architectural significance. The mosque was constructed between 1500 and 1505, with a külliye (religious and charitable complex) added immediately afterwards. This included a medrese (theological college), completed in 1507; a large hamam (bathhouse), completed some time before 1507; an imaret (soup kitchen); a caravanserai; and several mausolea including the türbe of Bayezid II himself. The chief architect of the mosque is not directly known. Based on Ottoman documents that mention architects during Bayezit II's reign, 20th century scholar Rıfkı Melül Meriç identified Yakubşah ibn Islamşah as the most likely architect. efn|This identification is cited approvingly by later scholars of Ottoman architecture, such as Godfrey Goodwin and Doğan Kuban. This grant confirms the endowment by Mehmed II of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Mary of the Mongols, the only church in Istanbul that was never converted into a mosque, to the mother of Christodoulos (the Bayezid II Mosque's architect's grandmother) in acknowledgment of the two architects' work. In 19th century and early 20th century accounts of the city it is often referred to as "the Pigeon Mosque" because of the large number of birds that congregated nearby to be fed by worshippers.

The dome was partially rebuilt after an earthquake in 1509, An inscription above the courtyard entrance suggests that repairs were also carried out in 1767 as a result of the earthquake which struck Istanbul in 1766.

The mosque is oriented along the northwest southeast axis with a courtyard to the northwest with an area almost equal to that of the mosque itself. The courtyard has monumental entrance portals on three sides and is surrounded by a colonnaded peristyle supported by twenty columns. Two of the columns are made of porphyry, ten are of verd antique, and six are of pink granite. The central dome is supported by two semi domes along the main axis and two arches running along the secondary axis. The mosque is constructed entirely of cut stone using coloured stones and marbles.

The mosque interior resembles a smaller scale version of the Hagia Sophia. At the ends of these wings are the two minarets.

Behind the mosque is a small garden, containing the türbe (tombs) of Sultan Bayezid II, his daughter Selçuk Hatun, and Grand Vizier Koca Mustafa Reşid Pasha. Embedded in the lowest part of the walls are fragments of sculpture from the lost triumphal arch from the Forum of Theodosius, more remains of which are scattered on the ground across the road from the mosque. During restoration of the hamam traces of an old Byzantine church beneath the hamam were uncovered.