This was a rather curious mosque, with some domes of a style that is not very Turkish. I took a lot of pictures because I liked the design and the lightness of the space inside.

These boys showed me arround, we even tried climbing the minaret, but it got very narrow higher up, so I gave up. I promised to send them their picture, it will be in the mail soon.

In the background: The mihrab (prayer niche), set with glazed tiles from Kütahya.

During the 16th-17th centuries Iznik was the main center of glazed ceramics. In the 18th century, Kûtahya took over this position and kept it up to our days. The basic technique didn’t change much. Of course, some steps in the process were industrialised, but an important part of the production is still hand painted, for example. The main difference (that already occurred in the 18th century) is a lesser percentage of quartz in the glaze: %85-95 in Iznik, %30-35 in Kütahya. High quartz glaze is of better quality, but much more difficult to make and thus causing more losses during the production. The latter explains why the Iznik technique was abandoned.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Source: Website of ‘turkishtileart.com’ .