Küçük Ayasofya Mosque (Saints Sergius and Bacchus)

جامع كوتشوك آيا صوفيا

The Kucuk Ayasofya Mosque of Istanbul; the Byzantine church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus erected by Justinian shortly before Haghia Sophia, converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest; its inscribed-octagon plan was a prototype for Ottoman mosque plans 1.

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At a glance

Era
The Gunpowder Empires
Region
Anatolia
Identifiers
Wikidata
Review
Draft Completeness 3/5 · Help complete it

Architecture

Overview

The Kucuk Ayasofya Mosque was the Byzantine church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, erected by Justinian shortly before Haghia Sophia and converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest; its octagon-inscribed-in-square plan was a prototype for Ottoman mosque plans 1.

In the sources

Freely sees the inscribed polygon covered by a dome — prototyped by Saints Sergius and Bacchus — as the ancestor of the Ottoman mosque plan 1.

People and things also explored

Abu Dulaf Mosque, Samarra· Great Mosque of Adana· Ahi Çelebi Mosque, Istanbul· al-Aqmar Mosque, Cairo· al-Attarine Madrasa, Fez· Great Mosque of Samarra· al-Janad Mosque, Ta'izz· al-Mansur Mosque (Kasbah Mosque), Marrakesh

Sources

  1. John Freely, A History of Ottoman Architecture (2011)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Küçük Ayasofya Mosque (Saints Sergius and Bacchus)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/building/kucuk-ayasofya/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Related

Abu Dulaf Mosque, Samarra

Draft card for the Abu Dulaf Mosque of Samarra, built by the Abbasid al-Mu'tamid about 860 with a smaller spiral minaret in the style of al-Mutawakkil's; the encyclopedia entry is not yet checked on the page.