Bursa Grand Mosque (Ulu Cami)

The Grand Mosque of Bursa, Ulu Cami, was built between 1396 and 1399 under Sultan Bayezid I with the spoils taken at the Battle of Nicopolis. Legend has it that the sultan had promised to raise twenty mosques and, on advice, put up a single one with twenty domes. The square prayer hall is covered by exactly twenty domes resting on twelve massive piers, and it is one of the last large buildings of the early Ottoman type, still close to the Seljuk tradition. Beneath the middle dome, whose opening once held a glass lantern, there is a sadirvan, a covered ablution fountain set right inside the hall, a rarity for mosques. The walls and piers are covered with calligraphy: about two hundred panels made by masters of the 19th century are considered one of the finest collections of Ottoman calligraphy in the country. The carved walnut minbar was assembled without nails and is decorated with a geometric pattern in which some see a diagram of the night sky. The building survived the fire of 1889 and earthquakes, after which it was repaired while preserving its original volume and the two minarets at the corners of the northern facade.

On the map