Ulu Mosque, Antakya

Overview

Near the main bridge over the Asi River, the Ulu Mosque was for centuries the great mosque of Antakya. Today, its site is a place of rebuilding.

The Story of the Antakya Ulu Mosque

Nobody knows exactly when the mosque was built. The earliest datable evidence is the year 670 of the Hijri calendar, 1271, in a Kufic inscription on the minaret, from the time of the Mamluk sultan Baybars. The complex grew over the centuries: a madrasa, a summer mosque, a fountain, two tombs, a soup kitchen and a row of shops.

Before the Earthquakes

The prayer hall had two aisles, with fourteen cross vaults on five columns and one pier. The minaret rose from a square base to a shaft of twenty-two sides.

Repairs Over the Centuries

Then, over the centuries, builders returned to the mosque again and again. They repaired the minaret in 1705 and in 1791–92, then the west gate in 1834–35, the madrasa in 1849 and the mosque itself in 1876. In 1931, too, new shops went up along the courtyard. The General Directorate of Foundations restored the complex in 1986 and again in 2002, so the building that fell in 2023 carried the work of many generations.

So most of these repairs belong to the Ottoman centuries, because Antakya came under Ottoman rule in August 1516, after the battle of Mercidabık. Then Hatay joined Turkey by the treaty of June 23, 1939, and later restorations followed under the Turkish state.

After February 2023

The Ulu Mosque collapsed in the earthquakes of February 6, 2023. Teams then sorted, cleaned and documented the rubble, and rebuilding began on September 15, 2023, under the General Directorate of Foundations. In December 2025, the rebuilding was still unfinished.

What Is Near the Antakya Ulu Mosque?

The mosque stands on the east bank of the Asi River, the main river of Hatay. The Asi rises in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, then runs 556 km (345 miles) to its delta on the Mediterranean coast. Then, from the mosque, a short walk leads to the Habib-i Neccar Mosque on Kurtuluş Caddesi. That mosque reopened for worship after a ceremony on December 27, 2025. Also, in February 2026, work on the new street design of Kurtuluş Caddesi was nearing completion.

How to See the Antakya Ulu Mosque Today

The site is in the center of Antakya, a short walk from the Habib-i Neccar Mosque.

Would you like to see Antakya and its surroundings with a guide who follows how the city is rebuilding? Let us know your dates, and we will plan the old city around the Ulu Mosque, with a lunch of Hatay cooking after. See our Antakya day tour, our drivers and our Hatay guide.