There seems to be an abundance of mosques all over in Turkey, but it is a rare occasion to see one being constructed, especially a cut-stone one instead of a concrete molded one.

During my 2002 trip through the Black Sea I came across with this cut-stone mosque being built in Bulancak, about 30 km west of Giresun. I was told that this was a one to one replica of the Sehzade Mosque in Istanbul which was build by the world renowned architect Sinan in 1544 to 1548 AD. This one in Bulancak called the Sarayburnu camii was being build in the exact scale of Sinan’s work over five hundred years later.

As you can see that the side walls were already built and the wooden casings were placed in to support the arches. Once the stone were cut and placed over the wooden carcasses then they would be taken down. Then the stone arch with the help of the key-stone and supporting walls would be suspended in the air. After this point then the dome is placed above those arches.

Please notice the three different colors of stone: sand, pink and gray ones. They are placed in repeating order to give color to the architectural elements.

Incidentally, the last six photos are from a mosque in Eynesil-Girasun, also being build out of cut-stone.