Grand Mosque

Sixteenth-century Ramadanid mosque complex at the heart of old Tarsus.

Tarsus's Grand Mosque, or Ulu Cami, was built in its present form in 1579 under the Ramadanids, the local dynasty that ruled Cilicia as Ottoman vassals. The mosque stands near the main square, with a marble entrance, a clock tower, and tombs attached to the complex.

It is not as grand as the major imperial mosques of Istanbul or Bursa, but that is not the point. This is a local Cilician monument, embedded in the streets around it and easy to combine with the bazaar, St Paul's Well, and the museum.

things to do sight mosque architecture