Monuments of the city · Mosque

Bayezid Paşa Mosque

A mosque at the head of a bridge, by the river. Its real story, though, is written a little further on, on a rock.

1414 At the head of the Kunç Bridge North bank

The Bayezid Paşa Mosque: a prayer hall with two domes, the late-comers' portico and a minaret with a single balcony — The Bayezid Paşa Mosque. *TTK Archive (Kültürel Miras Boyutuyla Amasya, Photo 2).*

📜 What do the documents say?

The mosque stands east of the Kunç (Kuş) Bridge and was built in 1414 by Bayezid Paşa, who held the offices of vizier and Beylerbeyi of Rumelia at the same time.¹ With its two domes, it displays the mastery of the stonework of its day.¹

Bayezid Paşa was one of the viziers who joined Çelebi Mehmed, son of Yıldırım Bayezid, and were sent to Amasya as deputy governor; a statesman who left his mark on the Ottoman Interregnum and the years that followed.²

And there is this: Bayezid Paşa is known as the first grand vizier to lose his life on the battlefield.³

Two architects for one mosque

Osman Fevzi Olcay reads two separate inscriptions in the mosque. Both describe the building, but they give a different architect and a different year. This page shows both; it does not prefer one to the other.⁴

Door inscription

Architect Şemseddin
AH 817 · Muharram (March 1414)

The inscription says the building was erected by the vizier Bayezid Paşa in the reign of Sultan Mehmet bin Bayezid Han.⁴

Column inscription in the late-comers' portico

Architect Yakup ibni Abdullah
AH 822 (1418)

There is another two-line inscription on top of the right-hand column. On the left-hand column appears the name of the man who wrote the lettering: Zeyneddin bin Zekeriya.⁴

Why might there be two dates? We do not know, and we are not guessing. Both are written in the source; the four years between them might point to an addition, a repair or the completion of the work. This page does not fill that gap.

An endowment deed written not on paper, but on rock

The most surprising thing about this mosque is not the mosque itself.

Bayezid Paşa did not only have a mosque built; he also founded a waqf, a pious foundation. Besides many movable goods, this foundation included a large estate stretching from Merzifon to Terziköy.²

Endowment deeds are usually written on paper and kept in a chest. This one, however, was carved onto the solid rock in the city centre, at the place called Leğenkaya. In Ali Yardım's words it is the only one of its kind: no other place is known in Anatolia where an endowment deed was carved directly into rock.²

The book describes where the inscription is today: when you cross the bridge and turn left, about fifty metres further on, at the foot of the mountain on the right. An artificial waterfall flows over it, and the inscription now has a glass cover.¹

Reading it took more than six months

Time and weather had eaten into the stone and made the inscription illegible. Prof. Dr. Ali Yardım deciphered it letter by letter using squeezes (estampage) — pressing wet paper or cloth onto the stone to take an impression of the relief.²

From the squeeze he carried away in his bag on his first visit he could read only about fifty words; they were scattered and did not add up to a text. Believing that thirty more words could be read, on 13 September 2000 he made another four-day journey from İzmir to Amasya with his team. This time he took squeezes of the worn parts of the inscription word by word, line by line, repeating some of them two or three times. The second visit gained 25 more words, and the number of words deciphered reached 75-80. Only then did the meaning of the text emerge.²

A detail that shows what kind of labour this was: in an interview, Yardım said that he had seen some of the words and letters in his dreams. Reported by the Amasya Governorship, in the book's foreword (Sunuş).²

1The only known example: an endowment deed carved in rock²

6 months+To decipher the inscription²

75–80Words finally readable²

While you are there, look for

The two domes. The prayer hall is not a single space; the building is roofed with two domes.¹
The columns of the late-comers' portico. The right-hand one carries the architect's name, the left-hand one the name of the man who wrote the lettering.⁴ Most visitors walk past without looking at them.
The bridge. The mosque stands right at the head of the Kunç Bridge;⁴ building and crossing were conceived together.
Then cross over and turn left. Fifty metres further on, at the foot of the mountain on the right, is the rock inscription under its glass cover.¹ The mosque's endowment deed is written there.

Key facts

Built: 1414¹ — according to the inscription, Muharram AH 817⁴
Commissioned by: Bayezid Paşa — vizier and Beylerbeyi of Rumelia¹
Architect: Two names appear in the source: Şemseddin and Yakup ibni Abdullah⁴
Calligrapher: Zeyneddin bin Zekeriya⁴
Roofing: Two domes¹
Site: East of the Kunç (Kuş) Bridge, on the bank of the Yeşilırmak^1, 4
Endowment deed: At Leğenkaya, on solid rock²
Location: 40.657989, 35.836891 — verified against OpenStreetMap
In the book: Kültürel Miras Boyutuyla Amasya, p. 32

📍 Open on the map

Sources

Kültürel Miras Boyutuyla Amasya (Amasya: Amasya Üniversitesi, BAP Projesi SEB-BAP25-0233, 2026), 32.
Ali Yardım, Amasya Kaya Kitabesi (Bayezid Paşa İmareti Vakfiyesi) (Ankara: Amasya Valiliği Kültür Yayınları, 2004), V-VII, IX-X. — “Sunuş” (V-VII): Bayezid Paşa's being sent to Amasya, the extent of the foundation, the condition of the rock inscription and the report that Yardım saw words in his dreams. “Önsöz” (IX-X): the squeeze work, the second visit of 13 September 2000 and the number of words deciphered.
Hüseyin Menç, Tarih İçinde Amasya (Amasya: Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2014), 96, naklen Kültürel Miras Boyutuyla Amasya (Amasya: Amasya Üniversitesi, BAP Projesi SEB-BAP25-0233, 2026), 32. — Menç's book is not available to us as text, so it has not been seen directly; that is why it is cited indirectly (naklen).
Osman Fevzi Olcay, Amasya Şehri (Amasya: Amasya Belediyesi, 2010), 148-149. — Translation of the door inscription, the column inscriptions in the late-comers' portico and the location of the mosque.