Turkey’s finest wooden mosque
If you’re staying in Kastamonu and have time on your hands it’s well worth driving west towards Daday, looking for the tiny village of Kasaba.
Here in this out-of-the-way place you will find the Mahmud Bey Camii, one of Turkey’s finest surviving medieval mosques, entirely constructed without the use of nails (hence its alternative name – the Civisiz Cami (Mosque Without Nails)). It dates back to 1366 when it was built for the Candarid leader and boasts some truly glorious painted woodwork – rafters, columns and gallery – all of it restored.
A few years ago thieves made off with the mosque’s fine wooden doors. They were later found, stripped of their metalwork, abandoned in a school playground and are now on display in the Liva Paşa Konağı museum in Kastamonu (closed Mondays). Since then the mosque has had full-time custodians which means that it’s easier to visit than in the days when you had to track down the imam and his key.
The village itself is very pretty with a ruined hamam and many fine old wood-and-stone houses, mostly in a poor state of repair.
In 2023 the Kasaba mosque became a world heritage site along with other wooden mosques in Afyon, Ankara, Beyşehir and Sivrihisar.
Transport info
Although there are regular dolmuşes from Kastamonu to Daday this is really an excursion best suited to those with a private car.
To get to Kasaba without a car get out of the Daday bus at Subaşı and then walk the last five km. If you’re lucky someone will take pity on you and offer you a lift.
