Native Name: Atik Mustafa Pasa Camii
Atik Mustafa Pasha Mosque is located further down Balat hospital , on Comber Street that is connected with the shore . An old byzantine church was in this place but was turned into a mosque in 1490 . The mosque is also named as Cabir Mosque because it is thought that Hazret-i Cubir was buried there . It is not known exactly when the church has been constructed or for whom it was dedicated , however some claim that it used to be dedicated to Petrus and Marcus , and later on that it was a church where Thekla , the daughter of Emperor Theophilos (829-842) retreated . None of these claims however has been proved .
An earthquake damaged the building in 1894 causing it to be left empty until 1906 , however when it was repaired , it continued to function as a mosque .
The area of the building is 17 . 5m long and 15m wide . The building has a domed Greek cross plan which is oriented in a northeast–southwest direction . It has 3 polygonal apses . There is no galleries in the building and its dome which is Ottoman has no drum , while the arches and the piers supporting the dome are
Byzantine
. The southeast wall
is composed of three apses that bulge to the outside . In the southern apse , there is the post of Cabir bin Abdullah el-Ensan who was one of the sahabas (people who have seen the prophet) of Prophet Muhammed . The American Byzantine Institute discovered in 1957 , the frescoes , that were covered with wood , of Kosmas and . Damianos among the saints of medicine origin and Prime Angel Michael from under the paint in the south front of the building .
