The Disaster Area Excavation Department launched a rescue operation at the İhsaniye Mosque in the central Antakya district of Hatay, which turned into a rubble pile in the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquake.
Hatay
The single-domed historical mosque, which was built towards the end of the 16th century during the Ottoman period and has a narthex with three arches in front of it, was completely destroyed in the earthquakes in Pazarcık and Elbistan on 6 February.
Columns, epitaphs, mihrab and pulpit decorations of the mosque, which also has tombs in its courtyard, were also destroyed by the impact of the disaster.
The teams affiliated to the Disaster Area Excavation Department, which was established under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, are trying to save parts of the historical structure from the rubble.
It is planned to restore the mosque with meticulous work under the chairmanship of Associate Professor Muhammet Arslan, Head of the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Kafkas University.
"If it is not intact, it will be restored and made usable again"
Assoc. Dr. Arslan told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the earthquakes caused great damage to the İhsaniye Mosque.
Emphasizing that the mosque is one of the important historical buildings for the city, Arslan said, "There are inscriptions on the courtyard portal of İhsaniye Mosque, on the south façade and at the narthex. Here, there are columns and column capitals belonging to the Ottoman original."
Arslan stated that they are making efforts to save the valuable cultural assets in the wreckage of the registered building.
Stating that they will do their best to bring the İhsaniye Mosque back to its old days, Arslan said:
"Unfortunately, the inscriptions, columns and column capitals, and the highly decorated mihrab and pulpit made of marble are in pieces. Our aim is to extract the historical buildings from the rubble intact.