Unesco World Heritage Sites – Bursa 1

Osman Gazi and Orhan Gazi Tombs
Osman Gazi Tomb

It is rumoured that Osman Gazi, while carrying out the siege operation of Bursa from Balaban Bey castle, showed the lead-covered dome of the monastery here, which shone like silver, to his son Orhan Gazi and willed to be buried here. For this reason, after the conquest of Bursa, he was buried by Orhan Gazi in the place known today as Tophane Park. It is also known as ‘Osmancık’ or ‘Manastır’ tomb among the people. It was once known as ‘Davullu Manastır’ due to the presence of a very large drum and rosary beads sent to Osman Gazi by the Seljuk sultan and thought to have been burnt in the fire in 1801.

Destroyed in the earthquake in 1855, the mausoleum was rebuilt in its present form in 1863 by Sultan Abdülaziz, the sultan of the period. The tomb, made of Köfeki stone, is covered with a dome over an octagonal edge. The tomb is entered from a wooden entrance in the north. In the four-line inscription written in relief style on the marble stone above the door, it is written that the tomb was built by Sultan Abdülaziz. The tomb is illuminated by seven windows. The cist, surrounded by mother-of-pearl inlaid railings on all sides, belongs to Osman Gazi. There are also the tombs of Osman Gazi’s son Alaaddin (1332), Orhan Gazi’s wife Asporça Hatun, Asporça Hatun’s son İbrahim, Murad I’s son Savcı Bey (1385) and 12 people whose names are unknown.

Orhan Gazi Tomb

There are mosaics belonging to Saint Elia Church on the floor. Destroyed in the 1855 earthquake, the tomb was built in its present form in 1863 during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz. The tomb has a square plan and is covered with a dome over four columns. The interior of the dome is decorated with pencil works in the form of cartouches, pendants and window pediments are decorated with large baroque motifs. Orhan Gazi’s sarcophagus covered with green tunic is surrounded by a brass network. In the tomb, the cist in the centre surrounded by brass railings belongs to Orhan Gazi. There are also the sarcophagi of Nilüfer Hatun, wife of Orhan Gazi, Nilüfer Hatun’s son Kasım (1347), Nilüfer Hatun’s daughter Fatma, Cem Sultan’s son Abdullah (1481), Bayezid II’s son Şehzade Korkud (1513) and Yıldırım Bayezid’s son Musa Çelebi (1413). Apart from these, there are also the tombs of 14 people whose names are unknown.

In 2014, it is located in the area declared as UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Yeşil (Mehmed I) Complex

Built by Sultan Mehmed I (Çelebi) in 1419, the complex symbolises the rebirth of the Ottoman sovereignty after the defeat against Timur in the Battle of Ankara (28 July 1402). The complex consists of a mosque, madrasah, inn, mausoleum, bath and imaret. Inside the mausoleum are the sarcophagi of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed, his sons and daughters and his nanny.

Evliya Çelebi

In his Travelogue, he says about Yeşil Mosque: ‘This mosque is such a mosque in terms of its elegance and beauty that there is no building like it on earth’. The mihrab and mahfili of the mosque are covered with Iznik tiles of the period and have an extraordinary ornamentation. The tiles contain 80% quartz, in other words semi-precious mineral stones. The structures of the complex were created with the extraordinary efforts of the architect Hacı İvaz Pasha, the Nakkaş Ali Ibn İlyas Ali from Bursa, the tile master Mecnun Mehmed, the wood carver Hacı Ali from Tabriz and the tile maker Pir Mehmed Çelebi. The presence of artists’ signatures on the ornamental elements in the building also shows the value given to art and artists by the Sultan, the founder of the building.

The buildings and decorations within the complex have attracted the attention of researchers and artists throughout history, and their awareness has increased the recognition of Bursa. The French architect Leon Parvillé, who was invited to Bursa between 1864-67 by Bursa Governor Ahmet Vefik Pasha, drew the facade, interior, stonework and tile decorations of the Green Mosque in detail and left important documents introducing the building to our day.
Osman Hamdi Bey (1842-1910), the first Turkish archaeologist, museologist and painter, is also known as the first painter to use figural composition in Turkish painting. Osman Hamdi Bey was also the founder of the Sanayi-i Nefise Mekteb-i Alisi (Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University) and the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. One of his most well-known works, ‘Turtle Terbiyecisi’ (1906), depicts the figure in a room on the upper floor of Bursa’s Green Mosque. In the paintings titled ‘Two Musician Girls’ (1880) and ‘Prayer in the Green Tomb’ (1882), the tiles draw attention with their realistic appearance. The tiles of the Green Mosque and Tomb, which were the subject of the painter’s paintings, continue to have the same effects today.

The Green Madrasah, one of the most respected madrasahs of the time with the name of Sultaniye Madrasah diagonally opposite the bath, which was built in 1480 by Türbedar Köse Ali Pasha (Sofu Bedreddin) in 1480 during the reign of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in a single bath typology and whose inscription on the door states that devrengeç water was used, operates as the Museum of Turkish Islamic Arts.İmareth

Bursa, the first Ottoman capital, is also one of the most important commercial centres in the history of the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey.

This important commercial role of Bursa and the fact that it was the capital of the Ottoman Empire is reflected in the Hanlar District as large inns, bedesten and bazaars. This area has been the centre of economic activity in the city since its foundation in the 14th century. The area has preserved its aesthetic and social value and is an attractive public space for both tourists and city dwellers as it is fully pedestrianised. The inns and bazaars continue to function uninterruptedly since their foundation 700 years ago.

Emir Khan, part of the Orhan Gazi Complex in the region, was the first to be built. Kapan Han was built southwest of Emir Han during the reign of Murad I. The Bedesten, which surrounds the Khan Area from the north, was also built during the reign of Yıldırım. Ipek Han built during the reign of Mehmed I and Kütahya Han built during the reign of Murad II form the east-west axis of the Hanlar District. Bazaars developed around the inns. A long and narrow street network on which the shops are located constitutes the bazaar itself.

Complexes consist of buildings with different functions such as mosques, madrasahs, imaret, baths and sometimes even hospitals or income generating bazaars and inns. The complexes were built in order to form the centre of the settlements to be built around them in the future and to trigger the development of the city in a certain direction. Sultans not only built these complexes in different centres of the city, but also contributed to the construction of other public buildings in the Khan District (trade centre)

In the second quarter of the 14th century, after the construction of the Orhan Gazi Complex to the northeast of the Byzantine settlement on a hill between two rivers, building works continued in the new settlement area to reinforce the decision to choose this area as the city centre.

The Orhan Gazi Complex consists of a mosque, a bathhouse, an imaret and an inn (Emir Han).

Orhan Mosque is the first building constructed within the complex. It is the first mosque in which the ‘⊥’ plan (with zaviyeli, tabhane), one of the most important designs of Early Ottoman architecture, is seen. The need for units to meet the physical, cultural and social needs of the state in the establishment phase was effective in the creation of this more complicated plan type. The mosque consists of the main worship space called Harim, an iwan on either side of this worship space, and two tabhane spaces located to the north and south of the iwans.

In 2014, it is located in the area declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Muradiye (Murad II) Complex

It is the last sultan’s complex built by Sultan Murad II in Bursa. Built in 1426, the complex consisted of a mosque, madrasah, bath, imaret and mausoleum.

The Muradiye Complex gained additional importance with the tomb structures that started with the tomb of Sultan Murad II’s son Şehzade Alaaddin and continued until the Selim II period (16th century), and a treasury formed by monumental tomb structures first existed here.

There are thirteen mausoleums within the Muradiye Complex; these mausoleums include the wives, sons, daughters, close relatives of the Sultans and various courtiers who served the Ottoman Empire. The fact that close relatives are buried here is an indication of how important Bursa is still spiritually even after the capital was moved to Istanbul.

The complex gave its name to the neighbourhood where it is located. Today, the madrasah is used as a museum and the imaret as a restaurant.

In 2014, it is located in the area declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Cumalıkızık Village

Cumalıkızık is an early Ottoman foundation village located in the east of Bursa, north of Uludağ at the 12th km of Bursa-Ankara highway.

The name ‘Kızık’ is mentioned in the 11th century Divan-ı Lugat-it Türk as a word describing Turkmen settlements named ‘Kızık’ in Anatolia and Northern Syria.

The Kızık villages in Bursa are thought to have been founded in the early 1300s. Cumalıkızık, the most authentic and best preserved of these, also reflects the Ottoman strategy of first conquering the countryside and then the cities, in order to create a secure hinterland for the army. The village is a Vakıf Village – which means that it is permanently owned by a public institution (külliye), with the aim of generating income for the construction of other külliyes and the new town. The creation of the village is part of the establishment of Bursa as a capital city.

In 17th century records, Ortakızık Village was referred to as Cumalıkızık or Camilikızık. It is thought to have been so named because it had a mosque with a minbar where Friday prayers could be performed among the other six Kızıks (Derekızık, Hamamlıkızık, Değirmenlikızık, Fidyekızık, Bayındırkızık and Dalkızık, which do not exist today).

The village itself, its structure, setting and houses have retained their original plans and construction techniques, and the village as a whole has the closest ‘flavour’ to the Early Ottoman period. The land around the village is still used for agriculture and forestry, as it was originally.

In 2014, it is located in the area declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Source, Go to Bursa

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