Şeyh Ali Mosque, like Sipahi Mosque, is located in one of the neighborhoods where Muslim families were concentrated during the Ottoman period, today’s Yukarı Mevkii. It is the only mosque among the mosques in Mustafapaşa whose original inscription and founder are known. Today, the date 1802 on the entrance of the mosque does not reflect the original construction date of the mosque. According to the Ottoman inscription, the mosque was built by Yazıcı Ali Ağa in 1824 (H.1240). The glass space added later to the facade of the building, which was built entirely of yellow colored smooth stone, spoils the originality of the building. The mosque, which was first built in a single space, has become today’s five spaces with additions over time. There is a marble-covered mihrab in the harim section, which has a single nave perpendicular to the mihrab and is covered with a pointed barrel vault. Its entrance is on the northern edge of the eastern façade. Medallions with passionflower and rosette motifs on the arch pediment of the entrance door; There is a four-line inscription above the entrance.
What is written in the inscription can be conveyed as follows:
“It was he who built and created this good deed with art/. Muhammed Yazıcıoğlu Yazıcı Ali Ağa/,
May Almighty Allah reward his past in both worlds/. May Allah reward his father for this good deed. Beginning of Muharram, M.1824.
The original minaret of the masjid is in the shape of a pavilion minaret, just like the other two mosques in the village (Camii Kebir and Sipahi Mosque) and is located in the southeast corner of the building.
Resources:
Topal, N. (2012). Nevşehir and Arabsun (Gülşehir) according to the Âsâr-ı Atika Book of the Central Town of Niğde Sanjak. A. Öger (Ed.). I. International Nevşehir History and Culture Symposium, 16-19 November 2011, Volume 6 (pp. 5-34). Ankara: Nevşehir University Publications.
Gold, A. (2016). Historical Mosques Located in Mustafapaşa (Sinasos) Town of Nevşehir-Ürgüp. F. Kılıç and T. Bülbül (Eds.). “From Muşkara to Nevşehir” II. International Nevşehir History and Culture Symposium, 2-3-4 May 2016 (pp. 104-121). Nevşehir: Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University Publications.
