Eski Mosque, Edirne

Eski Cami, "the Old Mosque," is the earliest of the three imperial foundations in central Edirne; it was begun in 1403 by Çelebi Süleyman, son of Beyazit I, and completed by his brother Mehmet I after the war of succession, as its inscriptions record along with the builder Ömer ibn Ibrahim and the architect Hacı Alaettin of Konya ¹.

The mosque is a perfect square 49.5 metres on each side, divided into nine equal bays roofed by nine domes carried on four massive square piers; the three central-axis domes use different transitions — squinches, stalactites and Turkish triangles — placing it in the early Turkish "Great Mosque" type whose first Ottoman example was Beyazit I's Ulu Cami in Bursa ². Damaged by fire and by the earthquake of 1752, it was repaired by Mahmut I in 1753–4 and restored again in 1924–34 and 1995; beside it stands the bedesten that Mehmet I built immediately after the mosque as its endowed market ³.

• Source read: Freely, A History of Ottoman Architecture (2011), pp. 80–82.