Description of the attraction
Bursa is considered one of the most beautiful cities in Turkey and if you consider it for interesting sights, then you should pay attention to the famous Green Mosque. The building was built in the 15th century during the reign of Sultan Mehmed I elebi and is part of a large complex, which also includes a tomb and a madrasah. Work on its construction lasted from 1414 to 1424.
The green mosque looks like two domed halls connected to each other. In the center of the first of them there is a marble basin for ablutions, on either side of which there are small rooms. The central hall of the mosque is crowned with several domes, which are supported by walls connected to each other in the form of a drum.
The Green Mosque is the most exquisitely decorated mosque in the city. Its façade is made of beautiful white marble, and the prayer hall is decorated with the rarest green faience. The windows and portal of the mosque are decorated with marble carvings, which are considered a masterpiece of Ottoman art. All interior walls are decorated with delightful tiles in blue, green, azure, turquoise and blue, interspersed with white Arabic script. It is thanks to the color of the inner walls that the mosque was named Green. Ali bin Haji Tabrizi, one of the masters who decorated the mosque, was from Iran, which influenced the style of its ornament.
Not far from the mosque there is another famous monument of the city of Bursa - the Green Tomb. It was built for Sultan Mehmed I elebi. He died in Edirne, but his ashes were transported to Bursa exactly forty days later and buried in the place that the Sultan himself chose for the construction of his tomb. The interior of the mausoleum and the sarcophagus, installed in the center of the inner room of the tomb, are decorated with tiles, which are very similar in color and ornamentation to the ceramic tiles that adorn the Green Mosque. Next to the mausoleum are the burials of the sultan's wet nurse, his daughters and one of his sons. On the outside, the Mehmed elebi mausoleum is also decorated with bright turquoise ceramic tiles.
The Green Mosque is the most valuable historical monument of the city of Bursa, so every year it is visited by a huge number of travelers from all over the world. Restoration work is still underway in the mosque, the completion of which is planned for November 2011.
