Yeraltı Camii

Useful Information

Location:	Kemankeş Karamustafa Paşa, Kemankeş Cd. No:23, 34425 Beyoğlu/İstanbul. (41.022351, 28.976792)
Open:	All year daily. [2025]
Fee:	free. [2025]
Classification:	Cave Church
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Yeraltı Camii, Kemankeş Karamustafa Paşa, Kemankeş Cd. No:23, 34425 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, .
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1453	after the conquest of Constantinople the cellar was used as a storage for ammunition and as cistern.
1753	converted into a mosque by the Ottoman vizier Köse Bahir Mustafa Pasha.
1754	fortress and mosque destroyed by an earthquake.

Description

Yeraltı Camii (Underground Mosque) is located in the Karaköy part of the Beyoğlu district in Istanbul. It is also called Kurşunlu Mahzen (Lead Cellar) because the belongings of captured Umayyad warriors were sealed away in this cellar with molten lead. As the name suggests, the mosque is located underground, below a Byzantine fortress, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1754. Actually the mosque was also destroyed, but Ottoman Sultan Mahmud I ordered it to be rebuilt, so the current mosque is from 1756. The site is still a mosque, and like all churches it is open to the public and free, but you should respect the traditions and beliefs if you visit.

The mosque is, despite its underground location, most famous for the three tombs. The first room contains the tombs of Amr ibn al-As and Wahb ibn Husayra who are Sahabah (Companions of Muhammad). A Naqshbandi dervish claimed that the presence of tombs in the cellar was revealed to him in a dream. As a result two wooden cenotaphs were placed here. However, there are actually no human remains and while Amr ibn al-As is known to have died in Egypt, Wahb ibn Husayra is actually more or less unknown and most likely never existed. Obviously the main thing with religion is to believe, not to know. The third tomb is the grave of Sufyan ibn Uyaynah who was a prominent member of the Tabi' al-Tabi'een. Again that’s a religious denomination, the first three generations of muslims have special names, the first is called the companions of Muhammad, the second is called the successors, and the third the successors of the successors. Not really creative, but those three generations are venerated. And again it is known that he actually died in Mecca. Nevertheless, there are legends that all three of them were tortured to death, obviously a particularly desirable way to die, and then buried in this cellar.

We listed this site as an example of an underground mosque. This seems to be quite rare, but mosques were normally built underground to hide them if the area was hostile towards Islam. This was not the case here, the reason why this mosque is underground is simply because the cellars were available. On the other hand, apart from the fact that it is underground, this mosque is by no means unusual. The architecture are cellar vaults and rugs on the floor. In other words, if you are in the area and have spare time, you might spend half an hour visiting this place.

More interesting would be a visit to the now destroyed castle above the cellar. It was a 35 x 35 m tower which belonged to the Galata Fortress and housed the famous chain that was once used to block access to the Golden Horn The other end of the chain was attached to a fortification in what is now Eminönü. To get an idea of the size of this chain, we recommend a visit to the Askeri Müze in Harbiye, where you can see the bronze chain links. The fortress including the cellars was built around 700 during the reign of Tiberios II. It is first mentioned in connection with the siege of the city in 717-718.