UNESCO accepts Mimar Sinan’s Mosque in Edirne for new list

One of the greatest works of the Ottoman architect Sinan is now set to become a UNESCO world heritage site.

The Selimiye Mosque, an Ottoman mosque in the northwestern province of Edirne, was commissioned by Sultan Selim II and built by Sinan between 1568 and 1574, will be the second Turkish mosque to enter the list after the Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği.

The mosque was considered by Sinan to be his masterpiece and is one of the highest achievements of Islamic architecture.

UNESCO will reveal a new list on June 19.

Selimiye Mosque stands at the center of a külliye (a complex consisting of a hospital, school, library and/or baths around a mosque) that comprises a madrassa, a dar-ül hadis (hadith school), a timekeeper’s room and an arasta (row of shops). For the mosque, Sinan employed an octagonal support system that was created through eight pillars cut into the walls. The four semi-domes at the corners of the square behind the arches that spring from the pillars are intermediary sections between the huge encompassing dome and the walls.

While conventional mosques were limited by a segmented interior, Sinan’s effort at Edirne was a structure that made it possible to see the mihrab from any location within the mosque.

Hürriyet Daily News