The great dome
About 31 m across on eight piers.
KLMircea — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · rob Stoeltje from loenen, netherlands — CC BY 2.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne is what Mimar Sinan himself called his masterpiece, and one of the highest achievements of Ottoman and Islamic architecture. Commissioned by Sultan Selim II, it crowns a hill above the city, its minarets visible from far away. UNESCO listed it with its complex as World Heritage in 2011, and it is open again after years of restoration. It was built between 1568 and 1575, and the sultan did not live to see it finished, dying in December 1574. Selim chose Edirne, the former Ottoman capital he had governed as a young man, perhaps also because few open hilltops remained in Istanbul. Sinan set out to match the dome of Hagia Sophia, surpassing its height and nearly equalling its span. Closed for restoration in 2021, the mosque returned to worship on 18 February 2026 and had its formal reopening in June 2026. What strikes you on entering is the dominance of a single dome, about 31 m across, resting on eight piers that leave the floor almost free of obstruction. Directly beneath it stands the muezzins' platform. Four identical minarets, about 71 m tall and among the highest Ottoman minarets, rise at the corners of the prayer hall. Outside are the arcaded courtyard, the complex's madrasas and the Arasta market below the hill. Keep shoulders and knees covered, women cover their hair, remove your shoes, and avoid prayer times and Friday midday. Edirne is about 235 km from Istanbul, roughly three hours by bus. It works as a day trip, though a night is better. The Bayezid II Complex is 1.6 km away in a straight line.
About 31 m across on eight piers.
About 71 m, among the tallest Ottoman ones.
Directly under the centre of the dome.
Central Edirne, on the hill above the Old Mosque
Yes. It returned to worship in February 2026 with a formal reopening that June, and it welcomes visitors outside prayer times, though some parts of the complex may still be in preparation.
Its diameter is about the same and it stands slightly higher, the first time Ottoman architecture reached that level. Sinan took pride in it.
