Hünkâr Mahfili

A hünkâr mahfili, also known as a sultan's loge or imperial loge,^[1]^[2] is a structure within the prayer hall of a mosque used by the sultan, the royal family, and high-ranking government officials for performing prayer. It often takes the form of a raised loge or balcony and provides privacy and protection from would-be assassins.^[3]^[4] This feature was characteristic of Ottoman or Turkish mosques, whereas in other mosques a similar function could be served by a maqsura (a restricted area near the mihrab of the prayer hall).^[3]

The *hünkâr hahfili* (green balcony on the left) in the Mahmut Pasha Mosque, located near the *mihrab* (decorated niche on the right)

The earliest clear example of an Ottoman hünkâr mahfili is that of the Green Mosque in Bursa, from the early 15th century, which consists of a richly-decorated room located above the entrance, directly opposite the prayer hall's mihrab, with an opening allowing the sultan a view onto the hall below.^[3] After the conquest of Constantinople (1453), subsequent imperial mosques usually had a sultan's loge in the form of a platform raised on columns in the southeast corner of the prayer hall (not far from the mihrab), with a screen obscuring view of the sultan from below.^[3] In later Ottoman mosques, the loge was often connected to a hünkâr kasrı, a private lounge or pavilion for royal use, which was accessed via an external ramp and provided direct entry to the hünkâr mahfili, bypassing the public areas of the mosque.^[3]

Gallery

The hünkâr mahfili in the early 15th-century Green Mosque of Bursa is a room above the entrance (upper middle in the picture here)
Partial view of the hünkâr mahfili in the late 16th-century Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, with its own private mihrab visible
The hünkâr mahfili inside the 18th-century Nuruosmaniye Mosque in Istanbul
The hünkâr mahfili preserved inside the Hagia Sophia today dates from a 19th-century renovation.^[5]