Ottoman Mosques and Bridges

A perfect one-night weekend trip was Edirne, located 3 hours west of Istanbul in Thrace, the small part of Turkey that lies in Europe. Edirne, formerly Adrianople, was the capital of the Ottoman Empire after Bursa and before the conquest of Constantinople/Istanbul. It is very close to the Greek and Bulgarian borders, and was the main reason that Thrace is now a part of Turkey, not Greece. We found a lovely, green city with great history and a Turkish feel. It was relaxing and quiet, and very un-touristy.

We had dinner and sunset by the beautiful stone Ottoman humpback bridge over the river Meriç.

We loved the relaxed, Turkish feel. Turkish men enjoying raki on a summer evening.

On Sunday, we saw Edirne from the perspective of Ottoman mosque architecture. We first visited the Eski Cami (Old Mosque), built in 1414. It shows the earlier Selcuk mosque architecture used in the previous capital, Bursa. This style usually put multiple domes on rectangular or square rooms. The Eski Cami had 9 almost identical domes on a square plan. The room was large, quiet and empty when we were there.

Next, we saw the Ucserefeli Cami (mosque with three galeries), referring to its innovative feature of a minaret with three balconies. This mosque, completed in 1447, shows the beginnings of transformation from Selcuk style to a unique Ottoman style. There is a central large dome on a hexagon support, inside a large rectanglular room with 4 side domes.

Some detail of the Eski Cami domes (1414).

Looking across the front of the Eski Cami.

The triange between the hexagon and the rectangle of Ucserefeli Cami was beautifully decorated!

The culmination of Ottoman mosque architecture came with Mimar Sinan, the greatest Ottoman architect. We'd seen his mosques in Istanbul, but the Selimiye Cami in Edirne is considered his greatest acheivement. It sits on a small hill, and has 4 very tall, slender minarets. The mosque shows great harmony and symmetry from outside and in. Inside there are many windows giving good light.

Edirne gave us more appreciation for the grandeur of the Ottoman Empire, in a very different setting than the endless and noisy Istanbul. Exploring this small pretty city was the perfect response to finishing the grades at Eyuboglu. It was also nice to have another trip with Brendan and Tracey, our Fulbright travelling companions. They are soon off to the mountains of Mongolia before returning home to Seattle.

	All over Edirne we saw huge, beautiful roses in bloom. The roses above were in the courtyard of the II Beyazit Complex on the river outside of town (see picture at left). This complex had a museum explaining the advanced hospital that operated here in the 15 century. It reminded us yet again how far ahead of Europe the Ottomans were in their early history.
If you look carefully at the photo on the right, you can see Selimiye's minarets and a statue of Edirne's famous olive-oil wrestlers. The traditional wrestling takes place later in June.