In order to safely preserve the historical mosques, which have significance as cultural heritage assets, for the future generations, the behavior of these type of structures under seismic loads must be well determined, analytical models that are able to represent the actual behavior must be developed, their earthquake resistance must be determined accurately and in case of insufficient capacity the proper intervention and strengthening methods must be applied without ruining the historic fabric and air. In this study, the earthquake behavior of Erzurum Lala Pasha Mosque, registered as cultural heritage, under static and dynamic loads was investigated using finite element method. A theoretical approach was presented for the determination of structural element and material properties using the available mechanistic material models for masonry in the literature. The adequacy of empirical relations available in code and previous studies for estimating the lateral load capacity of the structure and masonry walls were evaluated using the results of dynamic analysis that employs the 1992 Erzincan Earthquake records as input. It was demonstrated that the existing methods with proposed modifications can be used to calculate the lateral load capacity of masonry mosques. It was also identified that the Erzincan Earthquake is a very damaging seismic event for such type of structures