Catalca Ali Pasha Mosque

Çatalca Ali Paşa Mosque is located in the decent Çatalca, which was among the indispensable places of summer vacationers in Istanbul until 20 years ago, and is among the places preferred by almost everyone even for four seasons today.

This mosque, which was built in 1552 by Budin Beylerbeyi Hadım Ali Pasha, who served during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, is among the oldest structures in Çatalca. The mosque, which has been in use for 5 centuries, is among the thickest-walled mosques in the world, especially with its 140-centimeter walls.

Hadım Ali Pasha, who came from a Yanyali Albanian family, left the Rumelian Kethüdalık as a sanjak bey before he died in 1557 and served as Diyarbakır Governor between 1537 and 1540. In 1544, he became the Anatolian Principality; In 1549, he was appointed as the Sancakbeyi of Bosnia. In 1551, he played a very important role in the conquest of Hungary as Budin Beylerbeyi instead of Gazi Kasım Pasha. By the way, it should be noted that this mosque in Çatalca is not the only work built by Ali Pasha. In his life spent with war and diplomacy, he had Mimar Sinan built the mosque bearing his name in Diyarbakir, and the mosque with the same name, which was completed in 1561 by the foundation he established in Sarajevo.