Uç Şerefeli Mosque in Edirne and its place in the Ottoman architecture

Abstract

Scholars identify “the Edirne epoch” in the historiography of the Ottoman Empire as the period when this Thracian city served as the state’s European capital. Despite the brevity of the period and the small size of the city it hosts architectural monuments which became standards for the whole of Turkish architecture. The Uç Şerefeli mosque (1447) was at once the culmination of many currents pursued by early Ottoman architects and craftsmen using developments from surrounding Anatolian principalities and establishing the foundations of the future composition of the “great Ottoman mosque”. In addition, the design features of the building demonstrate the fundamentally new possibilities of Muslim architecture. However, this grand structure is clearly designed to suit more than the ritual needs of Edirne and the typology does not correspond to the traditional Ottoman “conciliar” mosque (ulu cami). What is the actual location of the monument in the history of Ottoman architecture? Does it complete an early stage in the evolution of architecture or open a new one? Refs 19. Figs 9.