Selim II Mosque

• Time of construction: from 1569 to 1575
• Location: Edirne, Turkey

Selim II Mosque in Edirne is the masterpiece of one of the most famous architects in the history of the world - Sinan. The pinnacle of his experience represents immortal shapes, intellectual structures and great space at an unrivaled level . Sinan strives to achieve unity, balance durability with serenity, visual stimulation with mental peace. Edirne is the highest peak in his career.

Architect and his masterpiece

Sinan was born in a humble village in Central Anatolia today named after him. Apprentice carpenter, he was captured in the army Janissary company, the elite infantry component and shortly after his commanders were astonished by the ability to build roads, build bridges and build high roads with a short time Best. He was also a commander on the battlefield and the inscription on his grave first paid homage to the time he served in the army and the Buyukcekmice bridge through the swamp on the way from Istanbul to Edirne.

Sinan's masterpiece: The mosque for Selim II's king has 4 towers,
the highest towers in Islam and half-moon bowls bearing the force of the main bowl (Photo: fa.org)

When he reached his retirement age as a general, Sinan soon became a royal architect and worked as a minister to build public works very effectively. He assumed this position until he died at the age of 96-100 in the Muslim year, and trained many generations of architects. He started construction of Selim II Mosque at 80 years old.

Selim II is a progressive donor and poet who has ceded the rule of a vast empire to Colonel Sokollu Mehmet Pasha, himself an esthetician. There is no more hilltop to build a mosque for the king in Istanbul, so choose only the high land remaining in the summer palace in Edirne - there are rivers, grasslands and many forests in this city still still beautiful.

If Edirne is from Greece, there will be an unconventional shape of bowls and towers in the Muslim mosque standing on the sky, in which overwhelmingly all are Selim II Mosque and 4 towers. If you are from Istanbul, you will see a mosque 10km away, something similar to a cathedral in Europe, with a diameter of 31m, the roof of the church is on par with the bowl of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul , for thousands of years is still considered the largest church in the world. The downward force is an important issue for the roof to face when the roof tends to expand. In Edirne, two bowls with a half-moon shape support the bucket force, mainly transferred directly to the wall posts. Solving this structural problem was completed by Sinan the first time he built a mosque for Suleyman Chao upper in Istanbul.

The basic structure consists of Roman proportional limestone blocks cut only by sand dust repeated in Edirne. But Sinan had an extraordinary breakthrough when taking away the main wall pillars, replacing these pillars with eight pillars with a wall-mounting function, with the corresponding towers above. Sinan also boasts 4 towers - each tower is 71m high, which is the highest tower in Islam.

While preparing for construction, Sinan's military style was invaluable.Each type of material used for construction must be ordered, then assembled, and stored in storage in the order they are needed . The stone is mostly taken from the locality, but marble columns come from all over the Ottoman Empire. It also needs carved shutters, window frames and many other details, up to the iron net and arch bar.

The salary for each person, in addition to the salary-paid recruiting soldiers, also has many skilled workers from villages specializing in carpentry, carving and installing drainage pipes. In the winter 3 months when ships cannot travel, slave labor must be used. A total of 20,000 people must be mobilized, plus the number of people holding horses and mules. This is the reason why it can be built in just 6 years.

Exterior and interior

Outside the mosque, a clear courtyard occupied an area equal to the interior. Large arches traditionally in front of massive doors have beats arising from the insertion of a smaller pair of arches with discs containing engraved verses that can be understood as moonlight. The rows of columns on the side with impressive dimensions and hand washers are placed in the middle, with no need for an extra bowl to complete the inner courtyard.

With gold-plated and polished marble grilles - most beautiful after every rain - the open-air space only has a clear view of the doors on both sides. The side of the church is deeply carved to create shadows in the entrance and in the domed cavity walls - this is important to appreciate the interior, which is a revolution in Ottoman architecture.

The entire space is utilized by removing the main wall restraints. This action is further enhanced by the shadow effect on the ground elevation due to the outside recessive windows created to reduce the light entering the lower areas of the interior. The religion and life are divided in this way - the balcony extending over the height of the alcove has many large windows that still allow the flow of light to be unobstructed as well as the upper windows.

(Photo: fa.org)

For the first time a large floor plate for monks to pray is placed right above the center of the upside down bowl, below the floor is a nozzle that symbolizes life is also very unique . The paintings are very rich at the edges of this floor in perfect condition. White marble is high in mimbar, to be the center of every prayer because it signifies the direction of Mecca. There are large windows to create light in the sacred place, and the prayer hall restraint restriction gives way to the flower-covered walls of heaven, using full color from the lime kilns at Iznik with the highest level. Elsewhere, except for the outer corridor for the King, the use of ceramics was limited. At the corners of the arches supporting the protruding balconies, meticulously curved tiles to fit in irregular spaces are like bouquets of flowers and must make the studio designer draw completely in the palace.

At night, many candles next to the mimbar are lit, smoke is blocked in bronze caps creating the best black ink. People are facing the hall and the low ceiling is shimmering with a rich light that cuts off the area with an invisible sacred. The church's footwork document said there were two officials who prevented others from coming here to dig for olive oil in the absence of electricity. The document also noted that the monk must now marry a beautiful young girl so that he would never be seduced by others.

In order to achieve the ultimate splendor of the corridor for the King of Islam, a wide staircase fitted into the thick wall led to a ceramic tiled entrance leading into the splendid room with the most beautiful ceramic tiles - Russian troops Stolen 1 tablet when invading in 1878, still in the Hermitage Museum in St Peterburg. Ceramic tiles line up to the highest peak in the small alcove as the entrance to the mihrab layout. This is a resting place for prayer and abstinence that lasts up to 40 days. No authorities can be absent for such a long time, 40 is a magic number so the day becomes an hour. Mimbar was impressed by Sinan's other groundbreaking wood - in fact the walls were shutters, so a kneeling King could pray directly to heaven. This is an emotional moment that no architect has ever reached.

The Islamic King's office ended in 1924 but the mosque still developed as the most important element outside Istanbul in modern Turkey. The work has been surveyed recently and found that the situation is still very good even though the Russian army had once pillaged before.No architect, even his senior student Mehmet Agha, can match Sinan in terms of talent and imagination. By perfecting the Ottoman achievements, Sinan made it impossible to have creative heirs in the same tradition. History never happens differently .