This serial property is comprised of five hypostyle mosques built in Anatolia between the late 13th and mid-14th centuries, each located in a different province of present-day Türkiye. The unusual structural system of the mosques combines an exterior building envelope built of masonry with multiple rows of wooden interior columns (“hypostyle”) that support a flat wooden ceiling and the roof. These mosques are known for the skilful woodcarving and handiwork used in their structures, architectural fittings, and furnishings.

Brief synthesis The Wooden Hypostyle Mosques of Medieval Anatolia is a serial property of five most representative early survival wooden Islamic religious buildings in the world. Constructed between the late 13th and mid-14th centuries, the property includes the Great Mosque of Afyon (1272-77), the Great Mosque of Sivrihisar (1274-75) in Eskişehir; Ahi Şerefettin (Aslanhane) Mosque in Ankara (1289-90), the Eşrefoğlu Mosque of Beyşehir in Konya (1296-99), and the Mahmut Bey Mosque (1366-67) of Kasabaköyü in Kastamonu; each of them is located in a different province of present-day Türkiye. The five mosques share the same architectural features: the exterior of each building is made of rubble and cut stone masonry, while the interior has multiple rows of structural wooden columns with muqarnas (three-dimensional “honeycomb” Islamic decorations) or stone spolia (repurposed architectural fragments) as column capitals, all supporting a flat wooden ceiling and the roof (hypostyle). The wooden beams and the consoles supporting them, the muqarnas column capitals, and in some cases, the imposts on the muqarnas capitals have been intricately decorated. Woodcarving and painting were used skilfully and extensively on the architectural fittings and furnishings, including doors, columns, capitals, ceiling beams, and consoles. Some mosques have outstanding examples of late 13th-century minbars (pulpits) constructed in the tongue-and-groove kundekari technique. In the context of Islamic religious architecture being dominated by stone and brick masonry buildings, these five mosques represent outstanding examples of an unusual building type that occupies a significant position in the development of Islamic architecture. The construction of these mosques can also be linked to the Mongol invasions of this area in the 1240s and the subsequent arrival of Central Asian craftspeople knowledgeable about wooden construction technology and possessing excellent woodworking skills. These…