The Mosque Uch-Serefeli-Jami Photo: The Mosque Of Uch-Serefeli-Jami

The famous mosque of Uch-Serefeli-Jami, or, as it is also called the Mosque with three balconies, located North of Edirne Bazaar and to the right of the main square of the city. It is right on the main street of the city, opposite the covered market Bedesten. During the construction of the structure (1437-1447) it was the largest building in the city. Its original architecture bears the characteristics of the transition from Seljuk temple to classic.

The special feature of the mosque is a fairly large courtyard, which in the history of Ottoman architecture was used here for the first time. In the center of this open courtyard is a fountain-sadirvan in which it is customary to wash the face, hands and feet on the way to the prayer hall. Courtyard surrounded by covered by the dome galleries. In addition, during the construction of the mosque was used by another innovation - have learned to make the overlap as a single dome, and not several, as before. The enormous dome is located on a hexagonal drum, supported by two external walls and two massive columns inside. The diameter of the dome is 24 meters.

Four minarets of different styles and heights that are located in the corners of a rectangular courtyard, give a special charm to this unusual mosque. They seem remarkably disproportionate to huge massive building - they are very tall and thin. The tallest of them, a height of 67 meters, has three balconies-seref, each of which is accessed by a private staircase. The minaret made of red and white stone, forming the original zig-zag pattern. The second minaret, called "bakawali" (which means with baklava), decorated with diamond-shaped ornament and two balconies. The third minaret, called "burmali" (which means twisted), attracts the original decoration in the form covering the spiral minaret and has, as well as the classical fourth, only one balcony. It should be noted that the overall structure of the mosque is still the standard.

The mosque Uch-Serefeli-Jami was badly damaged by a powerful earthquake of 1751. Partly it was rebuilt in 1763 and was completely renovated in 1930 and 1999. Uch-Serefeli in Edirne was an example of the structures erected during the period of search for new forms of Ottoman architecture. It demonstrates the transition from Seljuk style Konya and Bursa to the classical Ottoman style of the Istanbul mosques.

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