Selimiye Mosque, Edirne

Timeline

1. 1568–1569High ground of Edirne's old city · EdirneSelim II chose Edirne, where he had resided as a prince and enjoyed hunting, and ordered the octogenarian Sinan to build a royal mosque on the high ground above the old mosque, rewriting the skyline of the old Thracian capital with dome and minarets.
2. 1569–1574Selimiye Mosque construction site · EdirneSinan supported the central dome of about 31.3 meters in diameter with eight piers, reducing partitions so the prayer hall became a continuous, bright space; four three-tiered minarets of about 71 meters rose in a group, concentrating structural and visual focus entirely on the dome.
3. 1574–1575Selimiye Mosque · EdirneThe mosque proper and two symmetrical madrasas were completed. In the autobiographical tradition, Sinan called this a work of his mature craft, unifying space under a single dome, responding to and attempting to surpass Hagia Sophia in span and integrity. Selim II did not live to see its completion.
4. 1575–1590Selimiye kulliye · EdirneMadrasas, a hadith college, and the subsequent commercial street made the mosque the educational and charitable center of the old city. Selimiye thereafter replaced the earlier palace district as Edirne's most prominent urban monument and influenced the dome grammar of later imperial mosques.