Investigation of the Ottoman Period Masjids in the Izmit City Site: Structural Spatial and Liturgic Item Analysis

ABSTRACT From the ancient times in the Muslim World, there are many masjids that utilizing as a place of Islamic worship and maintaining their functional qualities, in social memory and in the physical environment. Islamic place of worship in Turkey, reveals the “mosque” with the existing ontological element in itself. And the question of the place of worship is discussed out of the mosque. However, when the places of worship of the Ottoman period were examined, it is seen that the masjids built on a different scale, unlike the mosque, have an important typology reflecting the texture of the settlement pattern. This building scale developed within the historical adventure of Islamic places of worship is an important reference source to shed light on contemporary mosque designs. In this context, the masjids located in the site of the city of Izmit are separated from the masjids in other areas of the city due to their historical layers. The study sights to archive these small masjids to analyze their structural, spatial and literary elements with architectural framework. Thus, it is aimed to meet an important need related to the subject in the field of architecture and to be articulated with a scientific study in our cultural heritage.