The entrance to the prayer room of the Azeriler Camii, built from 1887 to 1895.
The white marble frame shows an ingenious mixture of late Ottoman motifs and classical design (including a muqarnas vaulting).

Muqarnas is a stalactite-like decoration initiated in Anatolia by the Seljuk (in the 11th – 12th century). They imported it from Iran. Later on it continued to be used in the late-Seljuk architecture of the Beyliks (14th century) and by the Ottomans up to the 19th century.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: ‘Vakıf Abideler ve eski Eserler’ - Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü, Ankara 1983.