Bursa

Bursa

Bursa was the first Ottoman capital city and remained important to the Ottoman sultans after the conquest of Constantinople. The Green Mosque, thus called because of the vibrant tiles decorating the exterior and interior walls of the building, was commissioned in 1412 by Çelebi Mehmet, who soon after passed away and was buried nearby. Built with stone and marble, this highly decorative mosque with its complex floor plan, upper-level loggia, and covered central hall typify what is now called the Bursa style. The vestibule leads up to a domed hall with a fountain. The prayer hall is directly opposite the entrance and sits on a raised platform also covered with a dome. One of the distinct features of the Bursa style is the use of prismatic triangles below the domes, known as the Turkish triangles. The deep blue and green tiles are beautifully iconic of this mosque. Only a few elements of the Bursa-type mosque will be incorporated into the sultanic mosque of Istanbul after the court’s move there.

Yeşil Cami, plan, lower level (left), upper level (right); (below) section (from Kuran).

By Yahia.Mokhtar - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65964649