Notes from Istanbul (Part 5)

Edirne is 250 km northwest of Istanbul, bordering both Greece and Bulgaria. A major Greek city known as Adrianople since the 2nd century, it was taken by the Ottomans in 1361 and became their capital until 1453 when a much bigger prize, Constantinople, fell in their hands. At this point, the Ottoman Sultan formed an elite army with Christian captives from Adrianople, the Janissary corps, under his direct command. Every member a personal slave of the Sultan, the Janissary corps was the first standing army in Europe and responsible for many victories of the Ottomans for more than 400 years.

My interest in Edirne, however, lies mainly in the gem of Ottoman architecture, the Selimiye Mosque.

Equipped with a great deal of gusto and one Turkish word, Selimiye, Min-min and I took an early morning bus-ride on our first Saturday in Turkey to visit Edirne.  The 3-hr ride from Istanbul to Edirne was a delight; the US$12 ticket with reserved seating included free tea and snacks served by a waiter wearing a black-tie.

The bus stopped at the Edirne bus terminal on the outskirt of the city;  passengers were supposed to be transported, free of charge, to their destinations by a fleet of minibuses.  It was at this point that our Turkish word came into good use. Saying Selimiye repeatedly, we were led to a waiting minibus.  It meandered through many residential areas, causing anxieties in me as to where we were going. At long last, the driver signaled for us to get off. As soon as our feet touched the ground, we saw a huge mosque partially obscured by the tall trees in the middle of a broad boulevard.

The Selimiye Mosque (Selimiye Camii) is the masterpiece of the foremost Ottoman architect, Mimar Sinan (1491-1588).  A match of the best Renaissance architects in Europe, Sinan was born into a Christian family in Anatolia and taken at a young age to become a member of the Janissary Corps and later worked as an army engineer; he was spotted by Sultan Suleyman I, the greatest of Ottoman sultans, for his talent in design. Often running alongside the Sultan’s horse during military campaigns, Sinan was entrusted to design the Suleymaniye Camii in Istanbul. Later he was given the task by Sultan Selim II, Suleyman’s son, to design a mosque in Edirne to be named, of course, Selimiye Camii.

Viewed from the exterior, it has a huge Byzantine dome structure (supported by a group of smaller domes) accompanied by four Ottoman-style slender minarets, each with three balconies.  Laid out on an octagonal plan, the interior is very spacious and light. The decorative elements are artful yet not ornate. Non-imposing dignity and non-flamboyant elegance are the two qualities I perceived in this great mosque.  This, I felt, is how Sinan succeeded to convey in this masterpiece, at an advanced age of 97.

If we had seen nothing more than this mosque, it would have been worth the trip already.  But we got much more than we anticipated.

There is a small museum full of Islamic art pieces and historical documents.  A 16th century caravanserai, also designed by Sinan, is now a quaint hotel; it was just the kind of place where Min-min and I could have a cup of Turkish tea and give our feet a rest.

While having our afternoon promenade on the streets of Edirne, I noticed an interesting phenomenon: a higher percentage of people with Asiatic facial features in this westernmost European city of Turkey than in any other Turkish city I have visited.  On the returning bus, an idea suddenly flashed through my mind.
 
I think the Ottoman Sultans must have moved many soldiers and resettled a lot of people from its secure Asian possessions to Edirne in order to strengthen this European foothold. Indeed the Ottomans started as a gazi state and the first two rulers did not call themselves Sultan but used the title Gazi, meaning “frontier warrior for Islam”. We are now seeing the results of a deliberate policy made some 650 years ago, on the faces of people in Edirne!

When I told Min-min my theory about this observation, she coolly replied: “You are really an egg-head!”
 
Postscript: The “egg-headed” author of these Notes later checked an authoritative history book and confirmed his conjecture.  He was very happy!