Category: Religious
Type: Mosque
Location: Selimiye, Selimiye Kışla Ave. Üsküdar
Date: 1801-1805
Designer: Unknown
Period: Ottoman Empire
Photos: Kaan Çorbacı
The Büyük Selimiye Mosque, commissioned by Sultan Selim III and completed in 1805, serves as a prominent landmark in the Üsküdar district and a key representative of the Ottoman Baroque style. Situated adjacent to the monumental Selimiye Barracks, the mosque reflects the Westernizing trends of the Nizam-ı Cedid era, blending traditional Ottoman mosque typology with European decorative influences. The structure is characterized by its wide central dome supported by four large arches and its two exceptionally slender minarets, which were rebuilt in 1823 after suffering storm damage. Inside, the mosque features a magnificent marble mihrab and minbar, showcasing the refined stonemasonry of the period, along with an elegant royal lodge that emphasizes the imperial patronage of the project. As part of a larger social complex that originally included a school, a printing house, and a bathhouse, the Selimiye Mosque stands as a testament to the ambitious urban and architectural reforms of the early nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire.
