The Selimiye Mosque (Selimiye Camii) is a monumental Ottoman imperial mosque in the city of Edirne, Turkey. Commissioned by Sultan Selim II, it was constructed between 1568 and 1575 and is universally regarded as the ultimate masterpiece of the greatest Ottoman architect, Mimar Sinan. Sinan himself considered it the crowning achievement of his long and prolific career. The mosque and its social complex (külliye) represent the pinnacle of Ottoman architecture and one of the highest achievements of Islamic architecture as a whole. In 2011, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its outstanding architectural harmony and genius.

Name and Address

• Name: Selimiye Mosque.
• Address: Meydan, Mimar Sinan Cd., 22020 Edirne Merkez/Edirne, Turkey.

How to Get There

The mosque is the central landmark of Edirne and is easily accessible from within the city. Edirne itself is located in the European part of Turkey, near the borders with Greece and Bulgaria.

• From Istanbul: This is the most common route for international visitors.
  • By Bus: Numerous bus companies run frequent and comfortable services from Istanbul’s main bus terminal (Esenler Otogar) to Edirne. The journey takes approximately 2.5 to 3 hours.
  • By Car: The drive from Istanbul takes about 2.5 hours via the O-3/E80 motorway.
• Within Edirne: The mosque is located on a hilltop in the city center and is easily reachable on foot from most parts of the city.

Landscape and Architecture

The architecture of the Selimiye Mosque is a sublime expression of structural perfection and aesthetic harmony, designed to create a unified and overwhelming spiritual space.

• Hilltop Location: Mimar Sinan strategically placed the mosque on a commanding hill, the highest point in Edirne. This allows its magnificent silhouette, with its massive central dome and four soaring minarets, to dominate the city’s skyline, visible from a great distance.
• The Külliye (Social Complex): The mosque is the heart of a külliye, a complex of buildings with social and religious functions. This includes two medreses (theological schools), a covered market (arasta), and a primary school, all harmoniously arranged around the central mosque.
• The Dome: The architectural centerpiece and the mosque’s greatest achievement is its massive single dome. With a diameter of 31.2 meters, it is slightly larger than that of Hagia Sophia. Sinan’s genius was in creating an innovative support system of eight massive piers that are seamlessly integrated into the walls. This creates a vast, open, and light-filled interior space where the view of the dome is completely unobstructed, a feat that had never been achieved on this scale before.
• The Minarets: Four identical, slender, and exquisitely fluted minarets, each over 70 meters tall, anchor the four corners of the prayer hall. The two minarets on the north side each contain three separate, intertwining staircases—a testament to Sinan’s structural ingenuity.
• Interior Decoration: The interior is a masterpiece of Ottoman decorative arts. It features stunning Iznik tiles with floral motifs, intricate calligraphy, and a beautifully carved marble minbar (pulpit). The müezzin mahfili (muezzin’s platform) sits directly under the center of the dome, a unique placement that emphasizes the unity of the space.

What Makes It Famous

Selimiye Mosque is famous for being the ultimate masterpiece of Mimar Sinan and the zenith of Ottoman architectural achievement.

• Mimar Sinan’s Masterpiece: While Sinan built many of the Ottoman Empire’s most famous structures, including the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, he explicitly declared the Selimiye Mosque to be his masterpiece, representing the culmination of his life’s work and experimentation.
• The Perfected Dome: It is renowned for its structurally perfect and aesthetically breathtaking dome, which creates a sense of infinite, unified space that was the ultimate goal of Ottoman mosque architecture.
• Architectural Harmony: The entire complex is celebrated for its perfect symmetry and the harmonious relationship between all its parts—the mosque, the courtyard, the minarets, and the surrounding social buildings.
• A Symbol of Ottoman Power: Built at the peak of the Ottoman Empire’s power, the mosque was a statement of cultural and political dominance, intended to surpass the grandeur of all previous structures, including the legendary Hagia Sophia.

Differences from Other Wonders

Selimiye Mosque offers a unique experience that distinguishes it even from the other great imperial mosques of the Ottoman Empire.

• A Unified Space vs. a Divided One: The key difference between Selimiye and earlier grand mosques like Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia or even Sinan’s own Süleymaniye Mosque is the interior space. While those structures use semi-domes and large columns that partially obstruct the view, Selimiye’s design creates a single, completely uninterrupted interior space under one colossal dome. The feeling of unity and openness is unparalleled.
• Location in Edirne vs. Istanbul: The mosque was built in Edirne, the former Ottoman capital, not in the imperial capital of Istanbul. This was a deliberate choice by Sultan Selim II, and it gives the mosque a unique historical context, representing the empire’s deep roots in Thrace.
• The Pinnacle of a Style: While other Ottoman mosques are magnificent, Selimiye is widely considered by architects and historians to be the most perfect and refined example of the classical Ottoman style. It represents the solution to the architectural challenges that Ottoman builders had been working on for centuries.