Corridor: Diagonal Road, Via Anatolia
Country: Turkey, Bursa
Type: Historic Town
Epoch: 20th Century, Middle Ages
Theme:
World Heritage:

Bursa was a capital before Edirne. Today, unlike Edirne, it is a city of 1.5 million people and is a repidly developing industrial and commercial center.
There are some sites good to be seen in Burse One of them is The Complex of Murad II.
It was built following the completion of the Yesil Complex and consists of a mosque, madrasa (medrese), soup kitchen (imaret), a Koran school for boys (sibyan mektebi), hamam and twelve mausolea (türbe) belonging to the Ottoman family.
The mosque has two minarets on the northeast and northwest corners of which the latter was built during restoration by Parvilleé following the earthquake of 1855. The northern facade is adorned with weaving patterns of brick and blue tiles on the upper part of portico and decorative tiles in blue, yellow and white in tympana. The use of blue tiles is more pronounced on the interior, covering the lower part of walls in the southern iwan. The mihrab and the minber are not original.
The madrasa, located to the west of the mosque, is composed of fourteen cells around a rectangular courtyard with large classroom (dersane) on the south. The mausoleum of Murad II, facing south behind the medrese, was built prior to his death in 1427. It is a single unit crowned with dome resting on four piers and Byzantine columns, with oculus above the marble sarcophagus of Murad II filled with earth. An annex on the east, known as the Mausoleum of Alaeddin, houses four additional tombs including two sons of Murad II. The construction method is three courses of brick to one of ashlar blocks and tiles. A large wooden canopy protects the entrance, its ceiling is embellished with gilded star patterns carved and in relief.
The Ulu Cami (Grand Mosque) was built by Bayezid I after the Nicopolis (Nigbolu) victory. After being burnt down by Timur in 1402, the building was damaged by fires in 1493 and 1889 and by earthquake in 1855 and restored extensively after the earthquake (architect, Parvillée) and in 1959.
The mosque is composed of a large central hall measuring sixty-three meters by fifty meters, covered with twenty domes supported on round arches that fall on thirty piers arranged in a regular grid. Eighteen of the domes were rebuilt in 1855 after collapsing in the earthquake. The interior is adorned with colossal inscriptions on piers presenting the ninety-names of Allah in diwani and küfi script with accompanying baroque decoration from the 19th century. The minber, composed of interlocking wooden pieces fitted together without glue or nails, is decorated on both sides with carved geometric designs creating an impression of the skies. The honey-colored limestone of the exterior, plastered white until recently was uncovered in the restoration of 1959. The two minarets, on the northeast and northwest corner of mosque, are made of brick bases faced with marble; their wooden and lead caps were replaced with baroque stone alternatives by Parvillée.
The mosque for the Complex of Mehmet I, known as Yesil (Green) Mosque, was built between 1491-1421 by architect Haci Ivaz Pasa. The building went under extensive renovation following the earthquake in 1855, led by architect Parveillée.
The mosque is based on a reverse T-plan with a vestibule at entrance leading to a central hall flanked by eyvans on the east and west and a larger eyvan with mihrab niche on the south.
The mosque is built out of sandstone and clad with marble panels, a majority of which was replaced in the nineteenth century. Flower designs and scriptures carved in marble frame the entry and the windows, with a different design featured in tympana of every window. The grand entrance and the mihrab niches on the northern façade are crowned with marble stalactite half-domes. The two minarets are later additions to the building; they have been fitted with stone spires carved in the baroque manner at the time of renovation.
Other Places of Interest in Bursa are the Koza Han (Silk Producer's Bazaar) and the covered bazaar, including the Bedesten, Yildirim Bayezit Mosque, Emir Sultan and Orhan Mosque.
 

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