Kesik Minare (Korkut Camii)

Rising in the middle of Kaleiçi, on Hesapçı Street, the Kesik Minare, or Broken Minaret, is the most layered building in Antalya. Traces of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin, Seljuk and Ottoman periods can be read one above the other in a single structure; that is why the name "Kesik Minare", used by locals for more than a century, describes only the last chapter of a building whose official name is Şehzade Korkut Mosque. After the restoration of 2019-2020 the building was arranged as a museum-mosque and its courtyard became an open-air museum. The building's history goes back to the 2nd century AD. According to the Governorship and the Metropolitan Municipality, this was part of the city agora in the Hellenistic and Roman periods and stood on the site of a Roman temple; during the restoration a round, colonnaded Roman structure was uncovered beneath the paving of the courtyard. In the 5th century, in the early Christian period according to Semavi Eyice, a church on a basilica plan was built here. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the Panaghia Church became one of the most important churches of Pamphylia from the Middle Byzantine period onwards. Later, large stone piers were added to the central section, turning the building into a square tower covered by a dome; whether the dome was masonry or timber is unknown. Reused pieces from ancient buildings can still be picked out in the masonry today. Eyice notes that the architecture of the building was altered at least four or five times. According to some sources the church was badly damaged during the Arab raids of the 7th century and repaired again in the 9th century. The sources describe the following centuries differently. According to some, the building was converted into a mosque when the Seljuks took Antalya at the beginning of the 13th century; when the Kingdom of Cyprus seized the city in 1361 it was used by the Latins as a Catholic church. What is certain is this: Şehzade Korkut, son of Sultan Bayezid II, had the building converted into a mosque during his governorship of Teke and added a stone minaret at the south-west corner. Evliya Çelebi mentions the "Hünkar Mosque" in Kaleiçi in 1671; Eyice believes it is this building. A low-arched door on the west facade, the remains of a plain stone mihrab inside and an inscription worn beyond reading are the traces of the Turkish period. The jambs of that door are single blocks of stone, while its arch stones are cut to interlock. The building appears in many publications as Cumanun Camii; according to Eyice, this name shows that it was at one time the city's central mosque. The great fire at the end of the 19th century, in 1895 or 1896 according to the sources, destroyed the building's timber roof and the wooden cap of the minaret. Because the minaret stood capless from that day on, the name "Kesik Minare" took hold, and this truncated silhouette became one of the landmarks of Kaleiçi. The building waited unrepaired for more than a century; a small repair was attempted on the west side around 1960, and in 1974 only some sections were consolidated. Foreign scholars who studied Antalya at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century also found it an abandoned ruin. In 1998 work began again on a restoration project, but this attempt made no progress either. In 2002 Eyice still described the building as a ruin enclosed by a wall. The comprehensive restoration began with a tender held in 2017. During the work a wall that had leaned 39 centimetres was dismantled and its bricks numbered and put back; in 2019 the minaret received a wooden cap again after 123 years. The building was completed with a museum-mosque approach that leaves every period's trace visible, and according to the sources it reopened for worship in 2021-2022. Wikipedia gives the official opening date as 5 March 2021, the day accepted as the anniversary of the Seljuk conquest of Antalya. Today a visitor can see Roman spolia, Byzantine brickwork and Ottoman repairs side by side on the same wall. Start the visit from the outside. Coming along Hesapçı Street, the cut-stone shaft of the minaret and the brick-decorated band at its base catch the eye; the best photo angle is from the southern end of the street in morning light. Once in the courtyard, look at the Roman remains in the ground and the different stone courses in the walls; every change of colour in the walls means a different century. Because the building is in use as a mosque today, go inside outside prayer times, remove your shoes and keep quiet. The Kesik Minare stands right in the middle of Hesapçı Street, which links Hadrian's Gate to the Hıdırlık Tower; along this street, the main avenue of Roman times, it is a five-minute walk to Hıdırlık and ten minutes down to the marina. Driving in the narrow streets of Kaleiçi is difficult; the easiest way is to take the tram to the Kale Kapısı stop and walk.