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Unesco Recognizes A Mimar Sinan Monument

Unesco Recognizes A Mimar Sinan Monument

UNESCO HAS INCLUDED THE SELİMİYE MOSQUE AND COMPLEX IN EDİRNE ON ITS WORLD HERITAGE LIST.

Following the conquest of Istanbul, the Ottoman sultans showed great interest in the idea of building a temple even more magnificent than the Hagia Sophia. This dream was realized when Selim II had the architect Sinan build Selimiye Mosque in the former capital in Thrace. Let us get to know this mosque, the great Sinan’s masterpiece, a little better.

TRIVIA

The Müezzin’s Mahfil (Reading Platform) boasts an upside-down tulip motif on a marble column at its northeast corner. According to legend, this motif symbolizes the fact that the tulip grower who owned the land on which the mosque was built was only persuaded with difficulty to give up his property.

At 43.28 meters above the ground and 31.30 meters in diameter, the dome is even bigger than that of the Hagia Sophia.

According to the sources, some 14,000 workers and 400 foremen worked on the construction of Selimiye Mosque.

Selim II did not live to see the completion of his mosque, for which the foundation was laid in 1568. The mosque was opened in 1574.