Constructed in 1230 by the region's governor, Alaaddin Keykubad I, Sultan of the Seljuks, the mosque is located on the site of a Byzantine church whose walls were used as construction material. Although destroyed almost a century later, the mosque was entirely rebuilt, gaining a prayer hall with six half-domes―a truly impressive architectural element. The most spectacular feature, however, that makes this multi-domed mosque the oldest of its kind in Anatolia, is its fluted minaret. As the surviving inscription indicates, the grooved minaret, unique in Anatolia, was built by order of Alaaddin Keykubat I and is 38 meters high.