THE SELIMIYE MOSQUE

The Selimiye Mosque, built by Mimar Sinan at the age of 80 and determined by himself as “My mastership” is one of the leading examples in the history of the Osman-Turkish art and architecture. It was built between 1569 and 1575 under the orders of Sultan Selim II.

The Selimiye Mosque is the most successful example for a mosque with polygonal roof, sequence of the numerous studies of Mimar Sinan. The dome which represents the most developed level of attachment after a thousand years of development of this architecture is supported by eight “elephant foot” style columns and has a diameter of 31,50m. The most beautiful frontal composition of the Osman architecture on one hand, and on the other hand the four minarets with height of 70,89m, possessing three balconies each, attached to the prayer hall bring extraordinary grace and esthetics.
One of the most beautiful classical works of architecture from the same age is the closed yard with arcs and a hexagonal marble fountain which reflects proportionally that great achievement – Selimiye Mosque.
Selimiye is in the possession of great examples of the Osman decorative art. The marble altar with the subtleness of its carving with its height, its size and its beauty shadows all other such examples. The walls around the altar, its backside and the cone and the vicinity of all windows of the ground floor are laid with porcelain decoration. The porcelain tiles on the altar wall with their colouring and composition represent unsurpassed example of the Osman period works of art.
The Selimiye Mosque was included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list in 2011.