Üç Şerefeli Mosque

Üç Şerefeli was completed in 1447, and it matters architecturally as the step between the multi-domed halls of Bursa and the single-dome mosques that followed. Its central dome, about twenty-four metres across, was the largest the Ottomans had built at that point, resting on a hexagonal arrangement of piers and walls with smaller domes filling the corners - an experiment in getting one big space rather than a grid of little ones, and the direct ancestor of what Sinan later perfected a few hundred metres away at the Selimiye. The name means three balconies, after the tallest of the four minarets, which carries three şerefes reached by three separate internal staircases that do not meet. Each of the four minarets is patterned differently - fluted, zigzag, spiral, plain - which is unusual and deliberate. The courtyard with its portico and central fountain was another first at this scale.

What you actually see

• The four minarets - each with a different surface pattern.
• The three-balcony tower - with its separate internal stairs.
• The wide central dome - the largest Ottoman dome of its date.
• The porticoed courtyard - the arcade and fountain in front.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Mid-morning between prayers; Friday midday is closed to visitors.

Honest expectations

It is a working mosque - shoes off, modest dress, headscarf for women. The minarets cannot be climbed. It sits in a busy town centre with limited parking.

Nearby

The Selimiye Mosque is a short walk; the Bayezid II complex is across the Tunca river.