Tekke Arap Dede Mosque

Tekke Arap Dede Mosque stands at the intersection of Çamlık and Seyfi Ağa streets in Yozgat's central Tekke neighborhood. The mosque itself carries no inscription, but the phrase "Maşallah, year 1327" (1899–1900 CE) appears between two windows of the entrance porch — likely marking a repair date, since the mosque's endowment deed (vakfiye) is dated to the 1st of Dhu al-Hijjah, 1257 AH (January 14, 1842 CE). Of the two oldest gravestones identified in the walled cemetery (hazire) surrounding the mosque on all sides but the north, one — dated 1262 AH — belongs to the wife of İsmail Ağa, and the other — dated 1174 AH — to the wife of Abdullah Efendi; both stones provide important evidence that the site predates the mosque's own endowment date. The prayer hall is nearly square in plan with a flat ceiling; a half-cylindrical mihrab sits on the south side beside a plain wooden minbar to its west. To the north, a gallery projects outward, reached via a staircase inside a room at the northeast corner of the entrance porch. The preacher's pulpit to the east is a simple structure resting on slender wooden columns. Six lower windows — one each on the east and west walls, two each on the north and south — light the hall, with additional small upper windows on the south facade only. The square-based, round-shaft minaret at the northwest corner is reached via a door at that corner of the porch. Built on sloping ground, the mosque's two-storey entrance porch, glazed at the lower level, is reached by two flights of 5 to 10 steps on either side. The building is regarded as one of the province's significant historic sites.