Allegedly the oldest mosque built in Turkey when Antakya was conquered by the Caliphate of Ömer in 636AD.

The structure we see today has been rebuilt/restored many times.

From 968 to 1048 Antakya was under Byzantine rule and the mosque was turned into a church.

The Seljuks conquered the city in 1084 and the church was turned back into a mosque.

Some two hundred years later the Crusaders arrived and, you guessed it, the building became a church yet again for a further 170 years.

Finally the Ottoman Empire took over, the building was once more a mosque and so it remains having been heavily refurbished in the 19th and 21st centuries.

However, even more interesting than its turbulent history of religious usage is the fact that Habib Neccar was an early Christian during the Roman rule of this area who was martyred for his faith.

So the mosque is named for a Christian martyr.