The Üç Şerefeli Mosque () is a 15th-century Ottoman

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

Edirne Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

, Turkey.

History

The Üç Şerefeli Mosque was commissioned by

Ottoman sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire (), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to Dissolution of the Ottoman Em ...

Murad II Murad II (, ; June 1404 – 3 February 1451) was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1421 to 1444 and from 1446 to 1451. Early life Murad was born in June 1404 to Mehmed I, while the identity of his mother is disputed according to v ...

(r. 1421–1444, 1446–1451), and built between 1438 and 1447. It is located in the historical center of the city, close to the Selimiye Mosque and Old Mosque. The name refers to unusual

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

with three balconies (). It was originally called the New Mosque (''Yeni Cami'') to distinguish it from the city's Old Mosque (''Eski Cami'') nearby. The architect of the mosque is not known. It is built of Burgaz limestone with a main dome that is 24 m in diameter. When first built the dome was the largest in any Ottoman building. The mosque was severely damaged by fire in 1732 and by an earthquake in 1748 but was repaired on the order of Mahmut I. The two blue and turquoise

underglaze Underglaze is a method of decorating pottery in which painted decoration is applied to the surface before it is covered with a transparent ceramic glaze and fired in a kiln. Because the glaze subsequently covers it, such decoration is completely ...

-painted tile panels in the tympana of the windows were probably produced by the same group of tilemakers who had decorated the Yeşil Mosque (1419–21) in

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

where the tiles are signed as "the work of the masters of Tabriz" (''ʿamal-i ustadan-i Tabriz''). The running pattern of the Chinese influenced floral border tiles is similar to those in the small Muradiye Mosque in Edirne. In the ''Şakaiki Numaniye'' Taşköprüzade relates how ' Certain accursed ones of no significance' were burnt to death in front of the mosque by Mahmut Paşa who accidentally set fire to his beard in the process.''The Bektashi Order of Dervishes'' by John Kingsley Birge, 1982 (p 60 - 62)

Architecture

The Üç Şerefeli Mosque is one of the most important mosques of this period of early Ottoman architecture. It has a very different design from preceding mosques. The floor plan is nearly square but is divided between a rectangular courtyard and a rectangular prayer hall. The

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary a ...

has a central fountain and is surrounded by a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

of arches and domes, with a decorated central portal leading into the courtyard from the outside and another one leading from the courtyard into the prayer hall. The prayer hall is centered around a huge dome which covers most of the middle part of the hall, while the sides of the hall are covered by pairs of smaller domes. The central dome, 24 meters in diameter (or 27 meters according to Doğan Kuban), is much larger than any other Ottoman dome built before this. On the outside, this results in an early example of the "cascade of domes" visual effect seen in later Ottoman mosques, although the overall arrangement here is described by Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom as not yet successful compared to later examples. The mosque has a total of four

minarets A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

, arranged around the four corners of the courtyard. Its southwestern minaret was the tallest Ottoman minaret built up to that time and features three balconies, from which the mosque's name derives. The mosque was heavily damaged by an earthquake in 1752 and partly reconstructed. The overall form of the Üç Şerefeli Mosque, with its central-dome prayer hall, arcaded court with fountain, minarets, and tall entrance portals, foreshadowed the features of later Ottoman mosque architecture. It has been described as a "crossroads of Ottoman architecture", marking the culmination of architectural experimentation with different spatial arrangements during the period of the Beyliks and the early Ottomans. Kuban describes it as the "last stage in Early Ottoman architecture", while the central dome plan and the " modular" character of its design signaled the direction of future Ottoman architecture in Istanbul. Scholars have tried to suggest various possible sources of influence and inspiration for this design. Blair and Bloom suggest that it is a grander-scale version of the Saruhanid congregational mosque or Ulu Cami (1367) in

Manisa Manisa () is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province, lying approximately 40 km northeast of the major city of İzmir. The city forms the urban part of the districts Şehzadeler and Yunusemre, with ...

, a city with which Murad II was familiar. Godfrey Goodwin suggests that all the elements needed for the design of the Üç Şerefeli Mosque were already present in the existing mosques of western Anatolia, such as the Ulu Cami of Manisa and the Isa Bey Mosque of

Selçuk Selçuk is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 317 km2, and its population is 38,151 (2022). The town Selçuk is located northeast of the ancient city of Ephesus, that was once home to the Temple of Artemis, o ...

, but that they had simply not been united together in a single design. Kuban suggests that the mosque's spatial design evolved from the importance of the domed space commonly found in front of the mihrab in early

Islamic architecture Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both Secularity, secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Muslim world, Islamic world encompasse ...

, as well as from the influence of earlier single-domed Ottoman mosques. The mosque, which is built in cut stone and makes use of alternating bands of coloured stone for some of its decorative effects, marks the decline of the use of alternating brick and stone construction seen in earlier Ottoman buildings.

Gallery

Edirne 5230.jpg, Interior Edirne 5228.jpg, Interior Edirne 5219.jpg, Minaret Edirne 7309 Nevit.JPG, Minaret Edirne 5223.jpg, Central dome Inner court of the Üç Şerefeli Mosque.jpg, The inner court Edirne 7314 Nevit.JPG, Minaret Edirne Uc Serefeli Mosque 160.jpg, Edirne Uc Serefeli Mosque 160 Edirne Uc Serefeli 6026.jpg, Edirne Uc Serefeli 6026 Edirne Uc Serefeli 6002.jpg, Edirne Uc Serefeli 6002 Edirne Uc Serefeli Mosque december 2018 0096.jpg, Edirne Uc Serefeli Mosque December 2018 0096 Edirne Uc Serefeli 6024.jpg, Edirne Uc Serefeli 6024

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links