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Summary: Bursa was an early Ottoman capital and is covered through its mosques, tombs, markets, baths, madrasahs, and old neighborhoods. This account keeps the original place names, dates, architectural details, food notes, and photographs from the trip.

After the Sultanate of Rum was defeated by the Mongol Empire and became a vassal state in 1243, many small states called beylics (beyliks) broke away from it. The Ottoman state was one of them. Around 1281, Osman became the bey and gradually expanded his territory by constantly attacking the Byzantine Empire. After Osman died in 1324, his son Orhan Gazi continued the attacks against the Byzantines.

In 1326, Orhan captured Bursa, the most important city on the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara, and made it his official capital. From then on, the Ottomans used Bursa as a base. Over the next hundred years, they grew into the massive Ottoman Empire. Bursa stands as the best witness to the birth of the Ottoman Empire.

In 2014, UNESCO named the ancient city of Bursa a World Heritage site. Its full name is Bursa and Cumalıkızık: the Birth of the Ottoman Empire.

Five of these heritage sites are located within Bursa. These five building complexes (külliye) were built by the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth rulers of the Ottoman dynasty: Orhan (reigned 1324-1362), Murad I (reigned 1362-1389), Bayezid I (reigned 1389-1402), Mehmed I (reigned 1413-1421), and Murad II (reigned 1421-1444). They cover the entire history of the Ottomans from the founding of the state to the conquest of Istanbul.

The Inn District—Orhan

The Inn District (Khans Area), also called the Orhan complex (Orhan Külliye), was built by the second Ottoman ruler Orhan (reigned 1324-1362) and several later sultans. It is the first building complex (külliye) in Ottoman history and is known as an important symbol of the Ottoman growth into an empire.

As the first capital of the Ottoman dynasty, Orhan and his successors created a new style of city planning in Bursa. They were the first to build a building complex (külliye) in the commercial area outside the city walls. Besides a mosque, a religious school (madrasa), a public kitchen, and a bathhouse, the complex included many inns (khan), a covered market (bedesten), and a bazaar (bazaar). This style of city planning, known as the Bursa Model, served as an important reference for later Ottoman city construction and can be called a model for the empire.

The Orhan Mosque is the first mosque in Bursa. It was built in 1339 by the second Ottoman ruler Orhan (reigned 1324-1362). It was burned by the Karamanids in 1413, rebuilt by Sultan Mehmed I (reigned 1379-1421) in 1417, and repaired again after being damaged by an earthquake in 1855.

The Orhan Mosque is also the first T-shaped mosque in Ottoman history. The T-shaped mosque is a representative form of early Ottoman mosque architecture. to the main prayer hall, this design includes a room on each side of the entrance.





The Orhan Bathhouse is a double-domed Turkish bath (hammam) built by Orhan in 1339. Together with the Orhan Mosque, it forms part of the Orhan complex. This was also the first Turkish bath (hammam) in Ottoman history built outside the city walls to serve the bazaar commercial district.





The Great Mosque of Bursa (Bursa Ulu Cami) is the largest mosque in Bursa and the largest example of the Ottoman multi-domed mosque style. This mosque has 20 domes and two minarets, and it is known as a masterpiece of early Ottoman architecture.

The Great Mosque of Bursa was built between 1396 and 1399 by the fourth Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid I (reigned 1389-1402), to celebrate the famous Battle of Nicopolis. The architect is said to be Ali Neccar.





The covered market (Yıldırım Bedesten) was built by the fourth Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid I, and served as the trade and financial center of Bursa at that time. Its relatively enclosed structure allowed domestic and foreign merchants to sell and store their most precious goods. The covered market is also the heart of the entire Bursa commercial district, with various inns and shops built around it. Today, it is a jewelry market and remains the area for the most valuable goods in the entire commercial district.





The Court Madrasah (Vaiziye Madrasah) sits right next to the west side of the Great Mosque. It was built by Amcazade Hüseyin Çelebi during the reign of Sultan Bayezid I (reigned 1389-1402) as a complex combining a religious school and a bazaar. The madrasah was destroyed in an earthquake in 1855. In 1957, archaeological excavations uncovered the foundation, and it was later rebuilt.



The Şengül Turkish bath (Şengül Hamamı) was built during the reign of Sultan Bayezid I (reigned 1389-1402) and is located right next to the north side of the Great Mosque. In the 16th century, the price here was 16 to 25 coins per day. The cold room was later destroyed by fire, but the octagonal main room covered by a dome still stands today.



The Silk Inn (İpek Khan) was built by order of the fifth Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed I (reigned 1413-1421), so it is also called the Sultan's Inn. The architect was the famous early 15th-century Ottoman architect İvaz Pasha, whose representative work is the famous Mehmed I complex in Bursa. The inn consists of a square courtyard with 38 rooms on both the upper and lower floors, and a fountain for cleaning in the middle. The east gate of the Silk Inn was once damaged due to road construction, but it was rebuilt in 1958.





Ivaz Pasha Bazaar is one of the inns and bazaars built around the covered market (Bedesten) during the reign of Sultan Mehmed I (reigned 1413-1421). The architect was Ivaz Pasha, a famous Ottoman architect from the early 15th century.





Geyve Khan was built by the famous Ottoman architect Ivaz Pasha, just like the Silk Inn. It was a gift to Sultan Mehmed I (reigned 1413-1421), so it is also called Ivaz Pasha Inn. The government fully renovated this place in 2006.



Meyhaneli Turkish bath was built in 1426 by the sixth Ottoman Sultan, Murad II (reigned 1421-1444). Meyhaneli means tavern, because this place was once used as a winery. Meyhaneli bath is also called Chicken Market (Tavuk Pazarı) bath, which was the former name of the location where the bath stands.

The sections for men's and women's cold showers were torn down for road construction, but other parts were renovated recently.





Rice Inn (Pirinç Khan) was built between 1490 and 1508 by order of the eighth Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid II (reigned 1481-1512). The architect was Yakup Shah.

The inn is a square courtyard made of 97 rooms, with 50 rooms on the upper floor and 47 on the lower floor. The eastern porch of the inn burned down in 1519 and was renovated afterward. The inn was severely damaged in an earthquake in 1855. Between 1903 and 1906, the northeastern part of the inn was torn down for road construction. Restoration of the inn began in 1983 and was finally completed in 2004.





Fidan Khan was built by order of Mahmud Pasha, the Grand Vizier of the seventh Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II the Conqueror (reigned 1444-1446, 1451-1488). Because of this, it is also called Mahmud Pasha Inn. Fidan Khan is one of the largest inns in Bursa. It consists of 98 rooms forming a huge square courtyard, with a washing fountain and a small mosque in the center. The 48 rooms on the first floor were used as warehouses, and the 50 rooms on the second floor were used as shops.





The Koza Inn (Khan) was built between 1489 and 1491 by order of Sultan Bayezid II (reigned 1481-1512), and the architect was Abdul-ula bin Pulad Shah. After it was finished, the Koza Inn was also called the New Inn (Yeni Han).

The inn is a square courtyard made of 101 rooms, with 50 rooms on the first floor and 51 on the second. In the middle of the courtyard stands a small octagonal mosque, with a pool for wudu on the first floor and a prayer hall on the second.

Since the 15th century, the Koza Inn has been the trade center of Bursa and the busiest inn for foreign trade.





The Tuz Inn (Khan) is a small inn built by Umur Bey in 1454. It has 43 rooms surrounding a square courtyard, with 23 rooms upstairs and 20 rooms downstairs. There is a washing fountain in the middle of the courtyard, but no mosque.

The inn was badly damaged in an earthquake in 1855 and became even more run-down after a fire in 1901. The inn reopened in 2007 after being restored.





The Kütahya Inn (Khan) was built with funds donated by Buharalı Emir Efendi during the reign of Sultan Murad II (reigned 1421-1444, 1446-1451). It was once used as a shoe factory and warehouse, but the city government recently restored it to its original appearance.





The Perşembe Turkish bath (hammam) was built by Hacı Hasanzade Kazasker Mustafa Efendi during the reign of the seventh Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed the Conqueror (Mehmed II, reigned 1444-1446, 1451-1481).

The Perşembe bath is a small, single-unit bathhouse. Its changing room was torn down during road construction between 1903 and 1906.





Hüdavendigar Complex—Murad I

The Hüdavendigâr Complex (külliye) was built by the third Ottoman Sultan, Murad I (reigned 1362-1389), between 1363 and 1366. Murad I was known as "Hüdavendigâr," which translates literally from Persian as "Protector of Allah."

The Hüdavendigâr Complex is located on a hillside 5 kilometers west of the Bursa city center and includes a mosque, a madrasa, a public kitchen, a bathhouse, and a tomb.

Murad I was the son of Orhan I, the second ruler of the Ottoman Empire. Under his rule, the Ottomans captured most of the Balkans and made Edirne, located northwest of Constantinople, their new capital in 1363. Although Bursa lost its status as the capital, it remained the most important political and commercial center for the Ottoman territories in Asia.

In 1383, Murad I officially declared himself Sultan, marking the transition of the Ottoman state from a principality independent of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum into a powerful sultanate.

The Hüdavendigar Mosque, also known as the Murad I Mosque, was built by Sultan Murad I between 1363 and 1366. It is a classic early Ottoman mosque with a T-shaped floor plan, and its most unique feature is that the madrasa is located on the floor above the main prayer hall. Because many Byzantine craftsmen helped build it, the mosque features Byzantine-style brickwork and column capitals. It is also the only Ottoman mosque that has two porticos.





The Hüdavendigar public kitchen (imaret), also called the Murad I public kitchen, was built by Sultan Murad I between 1367 and 1385. The kitchen was badly damaged in an earthquake in 1855 and was renovated in 1906 by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who reigned from 1876 to 1909.

During the Ottoman era, everyone visiting the Hüdavendigar complex could eat and stay here for free for three days.

Today, it serves as a cultural center and still provides free food to anyone in need.



The Girçık Turkish bath (hammam) was built by Sultan Murad I between 1365 and 1366, and it has been in continuous use since it was restored in 1990.





The Old Bath (Eski Kaplıca) was built in 1385, and some of its columns, stone statues by the pool, and water spouts in the hot pool are original items from the Byzantine era. Since 1988, it has reopened as part of a hotel, with separate sections for men and women.





The Thunderbolt Complex—Bayezid I

The Thunderbolt Complex (Yıldırım Külliye), also known as the Bayezid I Complex (Bayezid I Külliye), was built in 1390 by the fourth Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid I, who was known as "The Thunderbolt" and reigned from 1389 to 1402, in the easternmost part of Bursa.

In the late 14th century, Bayezid the Thunderbolt (Yıldırım Bayezid) was known as the most powerful ruler in the Islamic world, commanding its finest army. Under his rule, the Ottoman Empire expanded steadily. In Europe, it included Thrace outside of Constantinople, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and parts of Serbia. In Asia, it reached the Taurus Mountains in southern Anatolia.

In 1402, Bayezid the Thunderbolt fought a decisive battle against the famous Timur the Great in Ankara. Bayezid was defeated and captured, and he died shortly after in Timur's military camp. After Bayezid the Thunderbolt died, his sons started the largest civil war in early Ottoman history, known as the Ottoman Interregnum.

The Thunderbolt (Yıldırım) Mosque, also called the Bayezid the Thunderbolt (Yıldırım Bayezid) Mosque, was built by order of Sultan Bayezid I between 1390 and 1395. It underwent major repairs after an earthquake in 1855, and a new minaret was added in 1963.

The Thunderbolt Mosque is the only early Ottoman mosque in Bursa built entirely of stone, without using any bricks. Additionally, the Thunderbolt Mosque is the first mosque to feature the Bursa arch structure. This flat arch sits between the main hall and the entrance, supporting two large domes.





The Thunderbolt Madrasah (Yıldırım Madrasah) is located northwest of the mosque. It was built by order of Sultan Bayezid I between 1390 and 1395 and was the first early Ottoman madrasah to have high walls. After the madrasah closed, it became a pharmacy in 1948.





The Bayezid the Thunderbolt (Yıldırım Bayezid) tomb was built in 1406 by Bayezid I's son, Süleyman Çelebi. The architect's name was Ali. In 1402, Bayezid the Thunderbolt fought a decisive battle against Timur the Lame in Ankara. He was defeated and captured, died shortly after in Timur's camp, and his body was later brought back to Bursa for burial.





The Mollayegan Madrasah was built in the late 14th century by Kara Eyne Bey, a commander under Bayezid the Thunderbolt, so it was originally called the Kara Eyne Bey Madrasah. Molla Yegan was a scientist during the reign of Sultan Murad II (reigned 1421-1444). He taught here for a long time in the early 15th century, and the madrasah was later named after him.

The madrasah underwent a major renovation in 1723 and was repaired again in 2006. It is now open to the public as a cafeteria, exhibition space, and handicraft center.



The Green Complex—Mehmed I

The Green Complex (Yesil Külliye), also called the Mehmed I Complex (Mehmed I Külliye), is the fourth complex built in Bursa. It was constructed by the fifth Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed I, who reigned from 1413 to 1421.

Mehmed was the fourth son of the fourth Sultan, Bayezid the Thunderbolt. In 1402, Bayezid I the Thunderbolt was captured by the great Tamerlane and died in a military camp shortly after. Mehmed, who was fighting alongside his father, was rescued on the battlefield by Bayezid Pasha and taken to the pasha's hometown of Amasya.

At that time, Bayezid I's eldest son had passed away and his second son was imprisoned by Tamerlane. The remaining four adult princes—Mehmed, Suleiman, Isa, and Musa—began to fight for the throne. This civil war is known as the Ottoman Interregnum.

Mehmed eventually reunified the Ottoman state and was officially crowned as Mehmed I in Edirne in 1413. Because he reunited the Ottoman Empire after its division, he is honored as the restorer of the Ottomans.

During the reign of Mehmed I, Edirne became more important than Bursa as the primary city among the two capitals, but after his death, he was still buried in the complex he built in Bursa.

The Green Mosque (Yeşil Mosque), also called the Mehmed I Mosque, was built by Sultan Mehmed I between 1414 and 1419. It is a masterpiece by the famous early 15th-century Ottoman architect İvaz Pasha. The Silk Inn (Koza Han), Geyve Inn (Geyve Han), and İvaz Pasha Bazaar in Bursa's inn district are also his works. the artists responsible for the painted decorations were Ali bin Ilyas and Mehmed el Mecnun.

The Green Mosque is a typical early Ottoman T-shaped mosque, and the main hall has two domes. The stone carvings on the mosque's main gate are considered the pinnacle of early Ottoman architecture. Due to the death of Mehmed I, the mosque's front porch (narthex) was never finished.





The Green Tomb (Yeşil Türbe) is the mausoleum for Mehmed I and his family. It was also ordered by Mehmed I and built by İvaz Pasha between 1414 and 1421. This tomb gets its name from the blue-green Iznik tiles, and the entire complex is named the Green Complex because of it.

The artists who painted the murals were Ali bin İlyas Ali, Mehmed el Mecnun, and Ali bin Hacı Ahmed Tebrizi, and their names appear on the walls of the tomb.

After the 1855 earthquake, this place was covered in blue Kutahya tiles, and the original tiles inside are considered a masterpiece of early Ottoman tile art.





The Green Madrasah (Yeşil Madrasah) was commissioned by Sultan Mehmed in 1414, but it was not finished on time because the Sultan died in 1421, and it finally opened in 1424.



The Green Public Kitchen (Yeşil İmaret) was also commissioned by Sultan Mehmed between 1414 and 1421, and it still gives out free food to the public today. When I visited, I happened to see a family picking up food at the kitchen.





Muradiye Complex—Murad II

The Muradiye Complex (Muradiye Külliyesi), also called the Murad II Complex (Murad II Külliyesi), was built in 1426 by the sixth Ottoman Sultan, Murad II (reigned 1421–1444 and 1446–1451).

Murad II was the last Sultan to rule from Bursa before the Ottomans conquered Constantinople. Besides standard buildings like the mosque, madrasah, and bathhouse, the complex is most famous for being the first to include a royal cemetery (hazire) for Ottoman family members. This style of cemetery later became common in Istanbul.

The Muradiye Mosque, also known as the Murad II Mosque, was built by Sultan Murad II between 1425 and 1426.

The Muradiye Mosque is an early Ottoman "T-shaped" mosque, with two domes over the main hall and a smaller dome on each side. The interior of the mosque is decorated with blue-green and dark blue hexagonal tiles.





The Muradiye (Murad II) Madrasah and the Muradiye Mosque were both built by order of Sultan Murad II in 1426. The madrasah has 14 student rooms surrounding a courtyard, with a large classroom covered by a dome in the center.

After 1951, the madrasah became a tuberculosis clinic, and since 2005, it has served as the Döne Ocak Early Cancer Diagnosis Center.





The Muradiye (Murad II) Public Kitchen was built by order of Sultan Murad II between 1425 and 1426, and it became a restaurant after 1995.



The Muradiye (Murad II) Turkish bath (hammam) was built in 1425 by order of Sultan Murad II. Later traffic planning separated it from the courtyard where the Muradiye Mosque and the madrasa are located.

This building was once used as a foundry before it was restored to a Turkish bath. Between 2008 and 2010, the city government took over the site and restored it. After the work was finished, it was given to the Bursa Disabled People's Committee to become a center for disabled development.



The Muradiye Cemetery, founded in 1449, is the first royal cemetery in Ottoman history. Its 12 tombs hold dozens of wives, sons, and daughters of Ottoman sultans, making it the most important cemetery from the early Ottoman period. Construction of the tombs in the cemetery continued until the 16th century. This shows that even though Istanbul was the capital by then, Bursa still held a high place in the hearts of the Ottoman royal family.

The 10 tombs with clear records are as follows:

(1) Tomb of Sultan Murad II: 1451—the sixth sultan.

(2) Tomb of Hüma Hatun: 1449—wife of the sixth sultan.

(3) Tomb of Sultan Cem: 1479—son of the seventh sultan.

(4) Tomb of Gülşah Hatun: 1487—wife of the seventh sultan.

(5) Tomb of Gülruh Hatun: 1527—wife of the eighth sultan.

(6) Tomb of Şirin Hatun: early 16th century—wife of the eighth sultan.

(7) Tomb of Prince Ahmed: 1513—son of the eighth sultan.

(8) Tomb of Prince Mahmud: 1507—son of the eighth sultan.

(9) Tomb of Mükrime Hatun: 1517—daughter-in-law of the eighth sultan.

(10) Tomb of Prince Mustafa: 1573—son of the tenth sultan.





Food

You have to try the Bursa kebab (Bursa kebap) when you visit Bursa. It is made by adding yogurt and tomato sauce to the meat. This was the first food I had in Turkey that I could not fully get used to. But their fermented grape juice (şıra) is super delicious!





I had breakfast at the hotel, right across from the beautiful Grand Mosque (Ulu Cami) in Bursa.



The next day, I had a dish similar to the Bursa kebab called meatball flatbread (Pideli köfte), which just swaps the meat slices for meatballs.





I had Turkish pizza (pide) for dinner. I really liked it because they were generous with the toppings.





In front of a mosque in Bursa, an old man was selling pastries for one lira each. They are called Damascus sweets (Şam Tatlısı) and are said to have a very long history. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: Edirne in Turkey was once the Ottoman capital in Europe and is shown here through its mosques, markets, bridges, museums, and Ottoman urban history. This account keeps the original dates, site names, architectural notes, food details, and photographs.

In the mid-14th century, the Ottoman dynasty crossed into Europe and kept invading the Balkan Peninsula. They gradually marched toward Adrianople, the third-largest city of the Byzantine Empire, which ranked only behind Constantinople and Thessaloniki. In 1369, the third Ottoman Sultan, Murad I (reigned 1362-1389), captured Adrianople and renamed the city Edirne. After that, Edirne became the Ottoman center in Europe.

In 1402, the fourth Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid I (reigned 1389-1402), was defeated and captured by the great Timur in the Battle of Ankara, and he died shortly after. His four sons fought for the throne, triggering the Ottoman Interregnum, the largest civil war in early Ottoman history. Because of this war, Edirne suddenly became the capital.

In 1413, Prince Mehmed occupied Edirne and finally won the civil war. On June 5, 1413, Mehmed was officially crowned in Edirne as the fifth Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed I (reigned 1413-1421). The Ottoman capital officially moved from Bursa in Asia to Edirne in Europe, where it stayed until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

While the capital was in Bursa, the Ottoman dynasty developed a new form of urban construction: building social complexes called Külliye in the commercial districts outside the city walls. After moving the capital to Edirne, the Ottomans continued to use this form. After Prince Suleyman made Edirne his capital in 1403, he immediately began building the first complex in the city—the Old Mosque complex—east of the Roman-era Hadrianopolis. During the reign of Sultan Murad II (reigned 1421-1444, 1446-1451), the second complex, the Muradiye complex, and the third, the Three Balcony Mosque complex, were built in Edirne, along with a royal palace in the north.

The Old Mosque complex

After the Ottoman Interregnum began in 1403, Prince Suleyman, who declared himself Emir in Edirne, started building the mosque. In 1413, Prince Mehmed was crowned Sultan Mehmed I in Edirne, and the mosque was officially completed the following year. This is the oldest surviving mosque in Edirne, so it is called the Old Mosque (Eski Cami).

The Old Mosque is one of the last multi-domed mosques to use the early Ottoman Seljuk style, featuring nine central domes. Compared to earlier Seljuk multi-domed mosques, the diameter of the domes in the Old Mosque has clearly increased, showing that the Ottomans were starting to move beyond their early phase of their early phase.

The coronation ceremonies for the 21st Ottoman Sultan Ahmed II (reigned 1691-1695) and the 22nd Sultan Mustafa II (reigned 1695-1703) both took place here. The old mosque suffered massive damage in an earthquake during the mid-18th century, and Sultan Mahmud I (reigned 1696-1754) later ordered its reconstruction. The old mosque was renovated again between 1924 and 1934.





The covered market (Bedesten) sits right next to the old mosque and was built in 1418 by the fifth Ottoman Sultan Mehmed I to help fund the mosque's operations.

This building is a classic example of an early Ottoman covered market and has been in use ever since. The building is a rectangle 78 meters long and 41 meters wide, topped with 14 domes and featuring 54 shops along its four sides.





The Rustem Pasha Caravanserai (Rüstem Paşa Kervansarayı) was built in 1561 by the famous architect Mimar Sinan under the orders of the Ottoman Grand Vizier Rustem Pasha (Rüstem Paşa).

The caravanserai has two floors, with 102 guest rooms inside and 21 shops on the outside. Today, the interior serves as a hotel, and the outside shops are still in business.



The Ali Pasha Bazaar (Ali Paşa Çarşısı) was built in 1569 by the famous architect Mimar Sinan under the orders of the Ottoman Grand Vizier Ali Pasha (Ali Paşa).

The bazaar includes 130 shops and 6 gates. The bazaar caught fire in 1991 and was later restored.





Muradiye Mosque

The Muradiye Mosque (Muradiye Camii) is a small T-shaped mosque on a hill in the northern part of Edirne, built in 1436 by order of the sixth Ottoman Sultan Murad II (reigned 1421-1444). It was originally part of a Sufi Mevlevi order complex before being converted into a mosque.

The Muradiye Mosque was once a complex that included a public kitchen (imaret) and a primary school (mekteb), but only the mosque remains today. This place was once badly damaged by an earthquake. The minaret has been rebuilt several times, and it currently looks the way it did after a major renovation in 1957.

The interior of the mosque is famous for its beautiful tiles. Before some were stolen in 2001, the main hall had 479 tiles in 54 different designs. 15 of these designs appeared only once, showing a strong influence from Yuan dynasty blue and white porcelain (Yuan qinghua). The blue and white hexagonal tiles among them are the earliest examples of Ottoman underglaze tiles. Because some tiles are arranged inconsistently, some scholars believe a portion of them were moved here from the Ottoman palace in Edirne in the north.





The mosque preserves a 15th-century mihrab covered in tiles, which bears the name of Sultan Murad II. The dry cord (Cuerda Seca) tile style of the mihrab is very similar to the Green (Yeşil) Mosque in Bursa, built in 1421, and was likely made by the same team of craftsmen. The mihrab of the Green Mosque in Bursa is said to have been designed by a master from Tabriz, Iran. Therefore, it is very likely that this master traveled to Edirne to design the mihrab for the Muradiye Mosque.



Three-Balcony Mosque (Üç Şerefeli Camii) complex

The Three-Balcony Mosque (Üç Şerefeli Camii) is known as an important landmark that started a new era in Ottoman architecture. It was the first mosque in Ottoman history to feature a central dome and the first to have a portico. The mosque was started in 1438 by the sixth Ottoman Sultan, Murad II (reigned 1421–1444), and was completed in 1447.

The Three-Balcony Mosque is located not far northwest of the Old Mosque, and it was the largest mosque in the Ottoman Empire when it was finished. This mosque is considered a pioneer of the classic Ottoman mosque style. It was among the first to shift from the Seljuk style of multiple small domes to a large central dome, featuring a central dome 24 meters in diameter.

The Three-Balcony Mosque gets its name from the three balconies on its minaret. At the time, this was the tallest minaret in the Ottoman Empire. It stands 76 meters high, has 203 steps, and you can reach the balconies using three different paths.

The underglaze tiles of the mosque are very similar in style to the Green Mosque (Yeşil Cami) in Bursa (1421) and the Muradiye Mosque in Edirne (1436), and they were likely designed by the person known as the Master of Tabriz.

The architectural design of the Three Balcony Mosque (Üç Şerefeli Cami) greatly inspired the great 16th-century Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, who built upon this foundation to eventually create the most magnificent mosques of the Ottoman Empire.





The Saatli Madrasa is directly opposite the Three Balcony Mosque and was also completed in 1447.



The Peykler Madrasa is right next to the south side of the Saatli Madrasa and was built a few years later.



The Stone Inn (Taşhan Inn) is across the street to the west of the Three Balcony Mosque and was built in the 15th century.



The Sokullu Mehmet Paşa Bath (Sokullu Mehmet Paşa Hamamı) was commissioned in the second half of the 16th century by the Ottoman Grand Vizier Sokullu Mehmet Paşa (in office 1565-1579) and built by the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan.

The bath was built right next to the Stone Inn and consists of two sections for men and women, and it is considered one of the most important baths in the Ottoman Empire.



Edirne Palace

Edirne Palace (Edirne Sarayı) was commissioned by Sultan Murad II in 1450, but construction stopped the following year when the Sultan passed away. After a period of inactivity, it was finally completed in 1475 by his successor, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror.

Afterward, the palace was continuously expanded between the 16th and 18th centuries. Most importantly, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (reigned 1520-1566), the chief architect Mimar Sinan redesigned the palace and solved the water supply problem by building a canal. To protect the palace from flooding, the canal was built in an arc around the palace.

At its peak, the palace consisted of 72 buildings, including 117 rooms, 14 mansions, 18 baths, 9 mosques, 17 gates, and 13 cellars. At its busiest, 34,000 people lived inside.

The main building of the palace is called the Panorama Pavilion (Cihannüma Kasrı), also known as the Imperial Throne (Taht-ı Hümayun), and was built in 1450. The Panorama Pavilion is a seven-story building with an octagonal room at the top, which includes the Sultan's room, a room for flags, a library, and a mosque.

Initial archaeological excavations of the Panorama Pavilion (Cihannüma Kasrı) took place in 1956. In 2001, the National Palaces Administration sponsored archaeological and restoration work on the palace gate, the Gate of Felicity (Bab'üs Sa'ade), and the Panorama Pavilion (Cihannüma Kasrı) site, which was completed in 2004.



The Imperial Kitchen (Matbah-ı Amire) is on the southwest side of the palace and has eight domes. While the north facade is gone, most of the structure remains well-preserved.



The Court of Justice (Kasr-ı Adalet) sits on the south bank of the Tunca River. It was built in 1561 by order of Suleiman the Magnificent, who is also known as Suleiman the Lawgiver.



The Kanuni Bridge (Kanuni Köprüsü), also called the Palace Bridge, was built in 1554 by Mimar Sinan under the orders of Suleiman the Magnificent.



Kasim Pasha Mosque

The Kasim Pasha Mosque (Evliya Kasım Paşa Cami) is by the river in the southeast of Edirne city. It was built in 1479 by order of Kasim Pasha (Kasım Paşa). Kasim Pasha was a famous Ottoman Empire general who served as the commander of Rumelia, the European part of the Ottoman Empire. He commanded troops during the wars between 1443 and 1444 against the multinational crusader forces of Poland and Hungary, fighting in places like Serbia and Bulgaria.

The mosque closed in 1950 due to the construction of a dam. Since then, it has been repeatedly damaged by floods, making it the most wild and overgrown early Ottoman mosque in Edirne.







Sultan Bayezid II Complex

The Sultan Bayezid II Complex (Sultan II Bayezid Külliyesi) is located on the north bank of the Tunca River in the northwest suburbs of Edirne. It was built by order of the eighth Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid II (reigned 1481–1512). Bayezid II was the son of Mehmed the Conqueror and was known as the Just. During his reign, he worked to maintain government affairs internally and defeated the Republic of Venice externally, leading the Ottoman Empire into a prosperous era.

The entire complex includes many buildings such as a mosque, a medical school (Medrese-i Etibba), a public kitchen (imaret), a hospital (darüşşifa), a bathhouse (hamam), and warehouses.







The Sultan Bayezid II Medical School (Sultan II Bayezid Medrese-i Etibba) is considered one of the best medical schools in the Ottoman Empire and consists of 18 classrooms and a large lecture hall. The famous 17th-century Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi mentioned in his writings that this medical school studied the works of various ancient Greek philosophers, scientists, and physicians, including Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Galen, and Pythagoras. Each doctor was an expert in a different field, and they tried to find the best treatments by studying various medical texts.





The Sultan Bayezid II Hospital (Sultan II Bayezid Darüşşifa) is the most important part of the entire complex. From its completion in 1488 until the Russo-Turkish War in 1877, this hospital provided continuous treatment to patients and was especially famous for using sound and scent for mental health therapy. Today, it has become part of a health museum.





Selimiye Mosque

The Selimiye Mosque (Selimiye Camii) in Edirne was commissioned by Ottoman Sultan Selim II (reigned 1566-1574) and built by the imperial chief architect Mimar Sinan between 1567 and 1575. It is hailed as a supreme achievement in Ottoman architecture, a masterpiece of 16th-century Ottoman Islamic art, and Mimar Sinan's well-deserved representative work. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2011.

On June 22, 1567, Selim II traveled from Istanbul to Edirne to sign a peace treaty with Austria, and People say he ordered the construction of the mosque at this time.

The entire complex (Külliye) consists of nine parts: the mosque, a courtyard with a fountain, the Dar’ül-Kurra Quran school (Foundation Museum), the Dar'ül-Hadis Hadith school (Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art), the Arasta bazaar, a primary school, a clock tower (Muvakkithane), the outer courtyard of the mosque, and a library. It is the most prominent building complex in the old city of Edirne.



The area where the mosque stands was originally an Ottoman palace. After the Ottoman Empire moved its capital to Istanbul in 1453, the old palace gradually became a military headquarters and later a square.

To highlight the central authority of the Ottoman Empire, Mimar Sinan wanted the Selimiye Mosque to look like a single, unified whole from both the inside and outside, rather than being composed of many small domes or semi-domes like earlier Ottoman mosques. Therefore, he decided to build a massive central dome that would surpass the Hagia Sophia. The dome was officially completed in 1575, standing 42.3 meters high with a diameter of 31.5 meters and weighing 20 tons.

At the same time, Mimar Sinan abandoned the traditional Ottoman mosque design of minarets with varying heights, instead building four 71-meter-tall minarets in the front courtyard. These four vertically symmetrical minarets shoot toward the sky like rockets from the corners of the courtyard, setting off the massive dome rising from the center. They dominate the city's skyline and give the entire mosque a sense of immense majesty.

Overall, the decoration on the mosque's exterior is relatively simple. It lacks the complex carvings found in Seljuk and other Iranian architecture, as the structure itself determines the layout of the facade. This is a hallmark of Mimar Sinan's architecture and is considered by later generations to be the classical aesthetic of Ottoman architecture from this period.





The courtyard in front of the main hall of the mosque covers 2,475 square meters, surrounded by a cloister with 18 domes, and features a fountain for wudu in the center. The marble columns in the courtyard were brought from ruins in Cyprus, Aydincik near the Kapidag Peninsula, and Syria. Mimar Sinan designed the front porch near the courtyard gate to be relatively narrow and low to highlight the grandeur of the mosque's main hall.





Mimar Sinan made bold innovations to the fountain. In this sixteen-sided marble fountain, we can see compositions and interesting details never before seen in Ottoman fountains of that time.

This is the largest ablution fountain Mimar Sinan ever built, and its decoration is very different from traditional ones. Each marble slab has a wide, deep contour band at the bottom, a pointed-arch mirror stone in the middle, and geometric openwork carvings on the top slab. Above that is a crown-shaped stone slab featuring Rumi patterns. Sinan designed special supports for the bottom edge of the fountain based on the lines of each water tap.





Mimar Sinan used an octagonal support system in the Selimiye Mosque, with eight columns holding up the massive central dome. In 1913, during the Bulgarian siege of Edirne, the mosque's dome was hit by Bulgarian artillery. Because the dome was extremely sturdy, it only suffered minor damage. Later, Kemal ordered that the shell marks be kept as a warning to future generations.





The mihrab (prayer niche) is located in a rear apse that projects from the main hall, providing enough depth for sunlight to enter from windows on three sides. The white marble mihrab was a spectacular work for its time. Unfortunately, the original 16th-century calligraphy on the semi-dome above the mihrab did not survive; what you see now is a 1985 restoration in the Baroque style.

The tiles around the mihrab were specially ordered by Mimar Sinan from Iznik between 1572 and 1575 and were the highest quality tiles in the Ottoman Empire at the time. The calligraphy on the tiles was created by Karahisari Molla Hasan, the student and adopted son of the famous 16th-century Ottoman calligrapher Ahmed Karahisari.



The minbar (pulpit) of the Selimiye Mosque holds a very important place among classical Ottoman artworks. The minbar is carved from a single piece of white marble, has 25 steps, and features an extremely elegant design. The beauty created by these merging geometric shapes is the artistic crystallization that Mimar Sinan pursued throughout his life.



Directly facing the mihrab is the stone platform where the muezzin calls the adhan, supported by 12 white marble columns. The thick pillar to the southwest of the platform is made of vertical, slender rectangular slabs and contains the stairs the muezzin uses to climb up.

The platform has a walnut railing decorated underneath with gold-leaf Chinese-style cloud knots, an important example of decoration from the classical Ottoman period. The deep blue background is covered with naturalistic dagger-shaped leaves, chrysanthemums, and Chinese-style clouds. The passion flower patterns on the blue background were brought to the Anatolia region by Central Asian Turkic people from the East in the 8th and 9th centuries, symbolizing eternity.





The Selimiye Madrasa is very distinct among Sinan's works. It has a unique dual-academy layout with the Dar'ül-Kurra Quran school and the Dar'ül-Hadis Hadith school symmetrical to the main mosque. It is also the only Quran school built by Sinan that features a honeycomb-structured muqarnas gate.





The Arasta Bazaar is 225 meters long, runs parallel to the southwest wall of the mosque, and generates income for the mosque by renting out 124 shop spaces. The bazaar has three main gates, one of which connects to the mosque courtyard via a staircase.

Some believe the Arasta Bazaar was built by Mimar Sinan's successor, the imperial chief architect Davud Aga, while others think Sinan designed it to cover the retaining wall supporting the mosque on the southwest slope, and it was finally completed by Davud Aga. This is because Mimar Sinan was very skilled at designing and building structures that adapted to sloped terrain.

Between 1863 and 1868, Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i Faith, was exiled to Edirne by the Ottoman Empire with his family and lived near the Selimiye Mosque. During this time, he wrote many works, announced the Baha'i Faith to countries around the world, and officially broke away from another leader, Mirza Yahya, which was a major event in Baha'i history.





Food

When visiting Edirne, you must try the local specialty, fried liver (ciğercisi), which is very satisfying when served with yogurt and hot sauce.







For lunch in Edirne, I had grilled sausage meatballs (sucuk köfte) and lentil soup (mercimek çorbası). A cold wind was blowing across the entire Balkan Peninsula those days, so drinking hot lentil soup felt the best.







For dinner in Edirne, I had minced meat pie (kıymalı pide) and a rich soup made from sheep head and sheep trotters (kelle paça). The soup was especially delicious.







For breakfast the next morning in Edirne, I had a meat-filled pastry (börek). It cost 6 lira a plate and tasted great. I also had a breakfast set, which was a plate of very healthy food.







At the bazaar in Edirne, I bought a local specialty, the crescent-shaped almond pastry known as Kavala cookies (Kavala kurabiyesi). Kavala is now an important seaport in northern Greece. The Ottoman Empire ruled it from 1371 to 1913. During the 1922 population exchange between Turkey and Greece, tens of thousands of Turks left Kavala to settle in Edirne, bringing this cookie recipe with them. I have always been interested in the Greek-Turkish population exchange. It involves so many stories about leaving one's homeland forever and the relationship between nations and ethnic groups. view all