Yesil Cami
Yesil Cami is an Ottoman empire style mosque that is also known as the Green Mosque. The word cami is derived from the ottoman word camii that stands for the Turkish word for mosque. The style for these mosques synthesized from many different cultures within the Ottoman Empire. These mosques incorporated the vaulted masonry from the Armenian churches, the beehive domes of Seljuk tombs, and Persian arcades. Altogether, these styles came together in order to form the Ottoman Empires approach to mosques, which is encapsulated within the mosque known as Yesil Cami. All of the mosques within the fifteenth to eighteenth century, including Yesil Cami, all resembled a reverse T shape.¹
These mosques along with Yesil Cami were often clad in ashlar blocks of marble. Many of them were very intricately detailed unlike Yesil Cami in order for people to be in reverence to their God while within them. Rooms around the prayer hall stayed separate from the devotion happening within. The second floor of mosques like Yesil Cami allowed for the Sultan to look down on the domed spaces of prayer. The mosque was also set on axis with the mihrab which resembled the religious and royal hierarchy of the Byzantine Empire. Also, within the mosque, there were reveals that allowed for chambers for private readings of the Quran. Mosques during this time, such as Yesil Cami, often belonged to larger compounds that also housed a tomb for the donor, religious college, bath, and public soup kitchen (imaret).² Including Yesil Cami, mosques of this time period often had a bell tower and one or more domed roofs. In the early stages, mosques like Yesil Cami had centralized planes with domes in the center. Others, such as Ulu Cami had many domes joining together to form a hypostyle hall. Altogether, Yesil Cami is a well-developed example of traditional mosques within the Ottoman Empire. ³ |
Author |
Front Entrance to the Green Mosque
"Green Mosque (Bursa)." Wikipedia. April 28, 2018. Accessed December 11, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Mosque_(Bursa).
"Green Mosque (Bursa)." Wikipedia. April 28, 2018. Accessed December 11, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Mosque_(Bursa).
Side image showing the marble cladding
"Yeşil Cami'deyiz..." Gezente.com. Accessed November 22, 2018. http://gezente.com/muhtesem-cinileriyle-yesil-camideyiz/.
"Yeşil Cami'deyiz..." Gezente.com. Accessed November 22, 2018. http://gezente.com/muhtesem-cinileriyle-yesil-camideyiz/.
¹INGERSOLL, RICHARD. WORLD ARCHITECTURE: A Cross-cultural History. S.l.: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2018: 244-245
²Hillenbrand, Robert. Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004: 233
³Kuban, Doğan. Muslim Religious Architecture. Leiden: Brill, 1974: 3-4
²Hillenbrand, Robert. Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004: 233
³Kuban, Doğan. Muslim Religious Architecture. Leiden: Brill, 1974: 3-4