Sanki Yedim Mosque

Sanki Yedim Camii is a mosque built during the Ottoman period, located in the Zeyrek neighborhood of the Fatih district in Istanbul, on the place site of small a neighborhood mosque. Although there is no definitive record of its exact construction date, it is believed to have been built in the 17th century. The mosque’s name and its founding story are based on an oral tradition passed down through generations. According to this tradition, the mosque was commissioned by Keçeci Hayreddin or Adanalı Şakir Efendi, who saved money by limiting his personal expenses and used these funds to build the mosque, reportedly saying “Sanki yedim” (“As if I had eaten”) to justify the frugality.

The mosque suffered damage from several fires during the final period of the Ottoman Empire. It was severely damaged and partially destroyed during the great Fatih fire that occurred shortly before the First World War. It was rebuilt in 1959–1960 with public contributions, but not in accordance with its original design. Today, the mosque remains open for worship and serves as a neighborhood mosque, situated among surrounding apartment buildings.

Sanki Yedim Camii is a small-scale neighborhood mosque with a rectangle plan. In its current state, it has a single-minaret structure with a white-painted minaret. The interior space covers approximately 100 square meters and can accommodate around 200 worshippers simultaneously. It is known that only the inscribed ceramic tiles above the mihrab have survived from the original structure. During the reconstruction of 1959–1960, the mosque’s architecture underwent several modifications.