Tepebaşı Camii

Tepebaşı Camii takes its name from its elevated position atop one of central Ankara's many ridges — tepe meaning 'hill' and başı meaning 'top' in Turkish — and worshippers approaching the mosque are rewarded with views across the rooftops of the surrounding districts to the distant ridges of the Anatolian plateau beyond. The position has given the mosque a certain natural dignity, and the builders have matched that dignity with a carefully proportioned structure of dressed stone, a single slim minaret, and a central dome flanked by smaller domes over the side spaces. Inside, the prayer hall is spacious, with tall windows admitting the clear mountain light for which Ankara is known, and the mihrab is set within a frame of restrained Kütahya tilework in deep blue and turquoise. The imam is a hafız whose Ramadan tarawih prayers draw worshippers from across the neighbourhood and who is respected for the clarity of his Friday sermons. Women pray in a comfortable upper gallery, and the forecourt, with its ornamental fountain and rows of plane trees, is a favourite meeting place for elderly men in the long afternoons of summer. Qur'an classes for children run throughout the year in a dedicated annex, and a modest library of religious books is available for any worshipper who wishes to borrow. Ablution facilities are extensive and heated in winter. During Ramadan the mosque becomes one of the busier evening gathering points in its district, with the tarawih prayers continuing into the small hours of the night. The view from the elevated courtyard at the hour of maghrib has itself become something of a quiet tradition among the worshippers, and a small bench against the qibla-facing wall of the courtyard is often occupied by one or another elderly member of the congregation who has come a little early to watch the city settle into dusk before going inside for the prayer. For visitors to central Ankara, Tepebaşı Camii offers both a reliable place to perform the five daily prayers and, from its elevated courtyard, one of the quietly memorable views of the capital, particularly at the hour of maghrib when the city below is gilded by the setting sun.