The History of Selimiye Mosque, Explained

By All Over InformationUpdated August 10, 20268 min read

The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne is the crowning achievement of Ottoman architecture, the building that its own creator, Mimar Sinan, called his masterpiece. Commissioned by Sultan Selim II and completed in 1575, it stands in the old Ottoman capital beside the rivers of Thrace, its great dome and four needle-like minarets visible across the plain. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, a working mosque, and the proof that the architecture of the Ottoman Empire reached its summit in a provincial city rather than the capital. Its story is the story of an architect at the height of his powers.

Edirne: The Second Capital

Edirne, known to history as Adrianople, was the Ottoman capital before Istanbul. The early sultans ruled from this city at the meeting point of the Tunca and Maritsa rivers, and even after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 it remained the empire’s second city, beloved by sultans and generals alike. Its great mosques, the Old Mosque and the Three Balconies Mosque, marked the stages of Ottoman architectural development.

Selim II, the son of Suleyman the Magnificent, loved Edirne more than any city in the empire. He had served as governor there before his accession, and he chose it as the site for the mosque that would bear his name. Building in the old capital rather than in Istanbul was a deliberate choice, and it tells you how much the city meant to the dynasty that had risen from it.

Selim II and the Commission

Selim II came to the throne in 1566 after the death of his father Suleyman on campaign. Known to history as Selim the Blond, and less kindly as Selim the Drunkard, he was no warrior, but he understood how to project power through architecture. To mark his reign he wanted a mosque worthy of the dynasty, and he turned to the one man who could deliver it: Mimar Sinan, the chief imperial architect.

Sinan was nearly eighty years old when the commission was discussed, and he had already built hundreds of buildings, including the great Suleymaniye in Istanbul. The Selimiye gave him the chance to solve the problem that had occupied him all his life: how to place a single great dome over a single unbroken space. He later declared that the Selimiye was his masterpiece, and the work began around 1568.

Selimiye Mosque, Turkey — Photo by Hans on Pixabay

Building the Mosque, 1568-1575

Construction of the Selimiye took about seven years, from approximately 1568 to its completion in 1575. The site chosen was a hilltop on the eastern edge of Edirne, overlooking the rivers and the plain beyond, where the mosque could be seen from every approach to the city. Thousands of workers were employed, and the great dome, more than thirty meters across, was raised over a prayer hall that had no interior support except eight slender piers.

The building was a technical gamble. To cover so large a space with a single dome, Sinan abandoned the cascading semi-domes of the Suleymaniye and created a new system of support, with the dome resting on eight great piers that were themselves braced by buttresses hidden within the walls. The gamble succeeded, and the mosque was inaugurated with great ceremony in the presence of the sultan.

The Dome That Rivaled Hagia Sophia

The dome of the Selimiye is its claim to architectural immortality. At just over thirty-one meters in diameter, it is slightly larger than the dome of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the greatest church of the Byzantine Empire, and it covers the prayer hall without any intervening supports. Sinan, who had measured the great church in his youth, had finally surpassed it.

The achievement was symbolic as well as technical. Since the Ottoman conquest, the empire’s architects had measured themselves against Hagia Sophia; at the Selimiye, Sinan produced a dome that outdid the Byzantine original in span and, by every account, in grace. The dome appears to float above the hall, ringed by windows that fill the space with light, and it remains the largest dome ever built over a completely open interior.

The Complex and the Arasta

Like all great Ottoman mosques, the Selimiye was built as the center of a complex. Around it were arranged madrasas for learning, a school, a library, and other charitable institutions, all funded by revenues that the sultan set aside. The most distinctive addition was the arasta, a long covered market street whose shops were rented out, with the income supporting the mosque’s upkeep in perpetuity.

The arasta was a stroke of financial as well as architectural genius. The rents of its shops paid for the mosque’s maintenance without drawing on the treasury, and the market gave the complex a living commercial heart. The arasta survives today, its shops restored and busy, a reminder that the Selimiye was designed to be self-supporting as well as beautiful.

After Sinan: Repairs Through the Centuries

Sinan died in 1588, thirteen years after the Selimiye was completed, and the centuries that followed tested his masterpiece. The earthquakes that shake the region periodically damaged the mosque, and fires in the city threatened its surroundings. The Ottoman records show a long series of repair campaigns, each one careful to preserve the original design, and the dome survived every tremor.

The building also survived the changing fortunes of the empire. As the Ottoman state declined, Edirne faded from the center of events, and the great mosque stood above a city that grew quieter century by century. The repairs became less frequent, but the structure held, and by the nineteenth century the Selimiye was recognized, even by European travelers, as one of the wonders of the Ottoman world.

Wars and the 20th Century

The twentieth century brought the hardest tests. During the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, Edirne was besieged and occupied, and the city suffered heavily. The mosque was damaged in the fighting and the occupation, and the surrounding buildings were looted and neglected. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed after the First World War, the new Republic of Turkey inherited a city in ruins and a great mosque in need of care.

Recovery came under the republic. The state took responsibility for the monument, repair work was carried out in stages, and the Selimiye was gradually restored to its former glory. By the middle of the century the mosque was once again the proud landmark of Edirne, and the city, now a quiet provincial capital close to the borders, began to attract the visitors who had once passed through on the road to Istanbul.

UNESCO and the Modern Era

In 2011 the Selimiye Mosque and its complex were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, recognition that came with a new round of conservation work. The listing praised the mosque as the finest work of Ottoman architecture and one of the supreme achievements of world art, and it drew renewed attention to Edirne from travelers and scholars alike.

The modern era has treated the Selimiye well. The mosque remains a working house of prayer, the arasta has been restored as a shopping street, and the surrounding gardens have been renewed. The conservation work continues, carefully balancing the demands of worship, tourism, and preservation. The building that Sinan called his masterpiece has entered its fifth century in better condition than at any time since it was built.

The Mosque Today

Today the Selimiye dominates Edirne as it has for almost four hundred and fifty years. Its four minarets, each nearly seventy-one meters tall and each with three balconies, are among the tallest in Turkey, and its great dome still marks the skyline of the old capital. It is the goal of every traveler to Edirne and the pride of the city’s inhabitants, who call it simply the Selimiye.

Standing in the prayer hall, you are standing at the summit of Ottoman architecture, in the space that its greatest architect chose as the proof of his genius. The mosque is at once the end of a tradition and its highest point, the building where the long development of the Ottoman dome reached its final, perfect form. For anyone who loves architecture, history, or simply great beauty, it is essential.

The City Around the Mosque

The Selimiye is inseparable from Edirne, and the city’s history runs beneath the mosque’s walls. The hill on which it stands had been part of the city’s Ottoman quarters for generations, and the mosque’s completion reshaped the neighborhood, pulling the center of gravity of Edirne toward the east. The streets around it, with their timber houses, fountains, and small mosques, grew up in the shadow of Sinan’s dome.

Walking those streets today, you move through layers of the city’s past: the Ottoman market streets, the restored arasta, the old bathhouses, and the cafes of the modern town. The Selimiye anchors them all, visible from every corner, and its history is also theirs. For the traveler, the mosque is best understood as the heart of a living city rather than a monument standing apart from it.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the Selimiye Mosque considered Sinan’s masterpiece?

Sinan himself declared the Selimiye his masterpiece, and historians agree. At the Selimiye he solved the problem that had occupied Ottoman architects for a century, covering a vast open space with a single dome more than thirty-one meters across, larger than the dome of Hagia Sophia. The result is considered the summit of Ottoman classical architecture.

How far is Edirne from Istanbul?

Edirne lies roughly two hundred and twenty kilometers west of Istanbul, near the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Buses make the journey in about two and a half hours, and many visitors come for a day trip. The mosque is a short walk from the center of Edirne, which is a small and walkable city.

When was the Selimiye Mosque built?

The mosque was commissioned by Sultan Selim II and built between approximately 1568 and 1575, under the direction of the chief imperial architect Mimar Sinan. It was inaugurated in 1575, and it has been in continuous use as a mosque since then. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2011.

All Over Information

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