One of the best-preserved wooden mosques in the Islamic world stands in the Konya province in central Turkey. It was built at the end of the 13th century. To this day mosque’s interior has 47 original cedar columns, each two stories high. All wooden beams and columns in the mosque are original. Before using them for construction, they were soaked in a nearby lake for 6 months. Then all the wooden elements were placed in animal manure and baked.
In the middle of the mosque there is a square pit used until the middle of the 20th century. The roof in this part was not covered at that time. Rain and snow collected in the well. The water provided the wooden structure with the necessary moisture and cooled the interior. The slow absorption of moisture prevented the wood from drying out and cracking.
In the second half of the 16th century, a wooden elevated platform called a dikka (muezzin mahfili) was added to the mosque. This is where the muezzin (the person who announces the call to daily prayer five times a day) chants or repeats the imam's prayer. The wooden structure of the dikka in the Eşrefoğlu Mosque is decorated with ornaments. There are always two verses of prayer. The first line of each couplet is a prayer for good fortune, and the second line is for a blessing.
