Selimiye Mosque

Sinan was in his eighties when he finished this in 1575, and he called it his masterwork. The whole prayer hall sits under a single dome built to rival the span of Hagia Sophia, carried on eight piers pushed out to the walls so that nothing interrupts the volume - you walk in and the space is simply one room full of light from tiers of windows. Four fluted minarets rise over seventy metres at the corners, and one of them contains three separate staircases that reach three balconies without ever meeting. Inside are Iznik tiles from the best years around the mihrab, a carved marble minbar, and a muezzin platform on twelve columns with a fountain playing underneath it.

History

Sultan Selim II chose Edirne, which he had governed in 1548-1550 and loved, over Istanbul for his imperial mosque, perhaps also because no prominent hilltop was free in Istanbul and because he had not yet led a victorious campaign, which scholars then thought a condition for a sultan's mosque in the capital. Mimar Sinan built it on the hill above the Old Mosque, beginning in 1568 or 1569 and finishing in 1574 or 1575, partly with the sultan's share of the spoils of the conquest of Cyprus, and he regarded it as his masterpiece. Sinan himself repaired lightning damage in 1584, tiles from the sultan's loge were taken to Moscow during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, artillery damaged the dome in the siege of 1913, and in 2011 the mosque and its complex became a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Selimiye Mosque, Edirne).

The main sights

• The dome - one span over the entire hall, on eight piers.
• The muezzin platform - marble on twelve columns with a fountain below.
• The Iznik tiles - panels around the mihrab from the peak period.
• The arasta - the vaulted row of small shops built to fund the complex.

When to go

Spring and autumn for mild weather and good interior light; the dome interior is dim under heavy cloud. Visiting stops during the five prayer times and around Friday midday. Late afternoon suits the exterior and the minarets. Most people come from Istanbul as a long day trip, which works but is tight.

Good to know

Edirne is two and a half hours each way from Istanbul, so a day trip is mostly road. Restoration scaffolding has appeared inside and out repeatedly in recent years and can hide large sections. Shoes off, modest dress and a headscarf for women are required, and the carpeted floor gets crowded before prayers.

Nearby

The Old Mosque and Uc Serefeli Mosque in the centre, and the Meric river bridges.

Key facts