Uch-Sherefeli Mosque Jami
   Photo: Mosque Uch-Sherefeli Jami

Uch-famous mosque Jami Sherefeli or, as it is called mosque with three balconies, located north of the bazaar Edirne and right of the city's main square. It is right on the main street of the town, opposite the covered market Bedesten. During the construction of buildings (1437-1447) it was the largest building in the city. Its original architecture bears the signs of transition from Seljuk temple to classical.

A special feature of the mosque is quite a large courtyard, which is in the history of Ottoman architecture was used here for the first time. At the center of this open courtyard is a fountain-shadyrvan, which decided to wash your face, hands and feet on the way to the prayer hall. The courtyard is surrounded by overlapped domes galleries. In addition, during the construction of the mosque was used by another innovation - have learned to make the overlap in the form of a dome, and not from some, as before. The huge dome at the time located on the hexagonal drum resting on two exterior walls and two massive columns inside. The diameter of the dome is 24 meters.

Four minarets of different styles and heights, located in the corners of a rectangular patio, give a special charm to this unusual mosque. They seem surprisingly disproportionate in relation to the huge massive building - they are very much high and thin. The highest of them, 67 meters in height, has three balconies, Seref, each of which is a separate staircase. The minaret is made of red and white stone, forming the original zigzag pattern. The second minaret called "baklavaly" (which means - with baklava), decorated with a diamond-shaped ornament and two balconies. Third minaret called "burmaly" (meaning - woven), attracts the original finish as embracing minaret spiral and has, like the classic fourth, only one balcony. It should be noted that the general structure of its mosque is still the standard.

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

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