Fatih Mosque (Yozgat)

Fatih Mosque stands in Yozgat's central İstanbulluoğlu neighborhood, about 150 meters northwest of the Çapanoğlu (Great) Mosque. Long used for various other purposes, the building — originally a church — was reopened as Fatih Mosque in 1996. The prayer hall is divided east–west into three aisles by two rows of piers, each aisle roofed with a barrel vault, with the central aisle wider than the flanking ones. The columns rest on tall square bases and carry slender, volute-topped capitals. To the east lies a non-projecting apse flanked by pastophoria (side chambers); to the west, a U-shaped gallery extends along the south and north wings. A mihrab niche was added later in the south wall. The interior is lit by tall, round-arched windows arranged vertically in two tiers. To the west, a flat-roofed, three-bay narthex opens outward through three round arches, now enclosed with glazing; the narthex projects rectangularly to the north and south, giving the building a two-storey appearance from outside. The original bell tower rises at the narthex's northwest corner. With its hipped roof and slender eaves, Fatih Mosque shows no decorative elements inside or out — a plainness that lets the building's underlying church architecture remain clearly legible even after its conversion into a mosque.