Esrefoglu Mosque The Eşrefoğlu Mosque is located in Konya Province, Turkey, just 100 meters north of the Beyşehir Lake. In the final years of the Seljuks of Rum, various rulers established semi-independent regions known as Beyliks across Anatolia. One such region was ruled by the Eshrefids, who governed central and western Anatolia between 1280 and 1326. In 1288, Süleyman Bey, the second ruler of the Eshrefids, reconstructed the city of Beyşehir, making it the capital of his beylik. Although his beylik lacked political influence, Beyşehir grew to be a significant cultural hub in the Seljuk world. In 1296, he ordered the construction of a mosque in Beyşehir, where he was later buried next to it after his death in 1302. The mosque has a rectangular layout measuring 31.8 by 46.55 meters (104.3 by 152.7 feet), with the northeast corner expanded to include the main entrance. The portal itself measures 7.1 by 10.1 meters (23 by 33 feet), and there are two additional smaller gates as well as 35 windows. The roof is supported by 42 wooden columns, each 7.5 meters (24.6 feet) in length and with a diameter of 40 cm (16 inches). After seven centuries, the Eşrefoğlu Mosque remains well-preserved and continues to host regular services. The wooden columns are made from cedar, and according to local tradition, they were submerged in a nearby lake for six months before being used in the mosque's construction. In the center of the mosque, there is a snow pit. Until the 1940s, this pit was filled with snow from nearby mountains. The snow served to cool the mosque during the summer months and also provided essential moisture to the wooden structure. On April 15, 2011, the Eşrefoğlu Mosque was added to the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The reason for its inclusion is that "Eşrefoğlu Mosque represents all the key features of early Anatolian Turkish architecture." It is an extraordinary structure and remains the largest wooden-columned mosque still standing in the Islamic world." In 2023, it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with four other mosques in Turkey. If you have any questions or inquiries about Eşrefoğlu Mosque, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] or simply message us via WhatsApp, and we will reply as soon as possible.