About the Ulu Câmi‘i

The Ulu Câmi‘i (called in older times Câmi-i Kebîr) was the principal mosque of the city.  It was built around a courtyard, consisting of the main prayer hall on the south side, with a cross-gabled roof; two two-story column arcade facades on the east and west sides; the Mesûdiye Medresesi to the northeast, with a column arcade; and the small Hambeli prayer hall to the northwest, built for followers of the Hambeli school of jurisprudence (it was later used for Shafi) (Sinclair, 1989, p. 178; Garden, 1867, p. 188).  According to Garden, the main prayer hall was divided for the other schools of jurisprudence: Hanefi, Shafi, and Maleki (Garden, 1867, p. 188; Nogales Méndez, 1926, p. 143).

It was originally the site of the Byzantine church of Saint Thomas, which was built by Heraclius in 629 (Creswell, 1998, p. 7).  After the Islamic conquest in 639, it was divided, with two-thirds becoming a mosque and the rest remaining a church (Creswell, 1998, p. 7).  It is recorded that the church was destroyed in 770 or 779 and rebuilt (Creswell, 1998, p. 7; Akyüz, 1999, p. 25).  The west part of the main prayer hall was built in 1091-1092 by Muhammed bin Selame on the order of Malik Shah, according to its inscription, and the east part in 1155-1156 (Creswell, 1998, p. 7; Haspolat, 2013, p. 5).  Sinclair estimates that the center gable may have been added during the Ottoman period (Sinclair, 1989, p. 178).  It was modeled after the Great Mosque of Damascus, one of the four wonders of the world of medieval Islam, which Malik Shah had repaired earlier (Creswell, 1998, p. 8).  The column facades on the east and west were adapted from Byzantine work, perhaps from the original church from 629 or from a Roman theater (Creswell, 1998, p. 8; Haspolat, 2013, p. 74).  The west facade has two inscriptions, one of 1117-1118 on the first story and one of 1124-1125 on the second story (Creswell, 1998, p. 8).  It seems that the original facade was broken down and the first story rebuilt in 1117-1118 under Abu Mansar Ilaldı, with the arches changed; this was most likely due to a 1115-1116 fire reported by Matthew of Edessa (Creswell, 1998, p. 8; Haspolat, 2013, p. 74).  In 1124-1125, the second story was added, also under Abu Mansar Ilaldı (Creswell, 1998, p. 8; Haspolat, 2013, p. 74).  The east facade has one inscription dating to 1163-1164 on the first story (Creswell, 1998, p. 8).  The 1155-1156 inscription on the east part of the main prayer hall also mentions work on this eastern arcade; both of these jobs most likely resulted in this facade being rebuilt in the style of the west facade (Creswell, 1998, p. 8; Sinclair, 1989, p. 179).  The main entrance from the street to the mosque on the east side was built between 1155-1178.  It features carvings of lions triumphing over bulls on either side; it is believed that they symbolize the Nisadids triumphing over the Inalids, as the inscription above it was made during the period Nisanid rule (Sinclair, 1989, p. 178; Haspolat, 2014, p. 304).  The column arcade in front of the Mesûdiye Medresesi also dated to an older structure; they appear to be from structure reported by Nasir-i Khusrau in 1046, with over two hundred columns (Creswell, 1998, p. 8).  The transformation to the Mesûdiye Medresesi was completed by 1223-1224 (Sinclair, 1989, p. 178).  The Şafi prayer hall was built some time before 1528-1529 (Sinclair, 1989, p. 178).  The minaret was located south of the cross gable of the main prayer hall.  It was repaired in 1839 after being damaged by a lightning strike (Haspolat, 2013, p. 75).  The ablution fountains in the courtyard were built in 1849 (Haspolat, 2013, p. 75).

The main prayer hall contained three naves in the east-west direction, along with a perpendicular nave in the center containing the minbar (Haspolat, 2014, p. 308).  The mosque contained two mihrabs, one more elaborate one on the axis of the entrance, and one simpler one to the east of the minbar which was made in the Ottoman period, probably by Maktulzade Vezir Ali Paşa in 1712 (Haspolat, 2014, p. 315; Haspolat, 2013, p. 75).  The main pulpit is to the west of the minbar, and is also an Ottoman addition (Haspolat, 2014, p. 308).  The ceiling of the mosque was remade in 1858, and had elaborate decoration (Haspolat, 2014, p. 315).

Armenians of the city believed the Ulu Câmi‘i to have once been the palace of Tigranes, however this is of course false due to the fact that Diyarbekir was not the ancient Tigranocerta (Garden, 1867, p. 188).  In addition, many 19th century Europeans believed that the southern prayer hall and minaret were once parts of the church, however this hypothesis is disproved under the careful examination of more recent scholars (Garden, 1867, p. 188; Southgate, 1840, p. 298; “Rough notes of journeys made in the years 1868, ’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, & ’73, in Syria, down the Tigris, India, Kashmir, Ceylon, Japan, Mongolia, Siberia, the United States, the Sandwich Islands, and Australasia”, 1875, p. 340).