Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Bursa
Some friends and I headed back west this weekend and visited the city of Bursa. We spent two days there visiting the old city and seeing Uludağ, the 2500m (roughly 8000ft) mountain that borders it.
Today Bursa is a crowded (by Turkish standards) city of one million people. It's economy has boomed recently because many European car manufacturers have set up plants nearby and have thus accented the tourism industry there. Bursa is a typical winter getaway, but not necesarily for Westerners. Arabs are known to frequent the Çekirge (grasshopper) region of the city for its exquisite clutch of hamams and proximity to Uludağ where is the best skiing in Turkey can be found. But this is all an echo of the city's historical importance.
Bursa is in fact the first Ottoman city and its capital until they crossed the Bosphorus and conquered Edirne in the 15th century. Much like the United States moved its capital from Philadelphia to New York to Washington D.C., Bursa was not large enough for the quickly growing Empire and not glorious enough to strike awe into the hearts of the world. That said there is a lot of history there in the seat of Osman, Orhan, Murad and Beyazid. First there are three imperial mosques in the town center, which I was able to visit.
The oldest of the these mosques is Orhan Gazi Camii. This is a smaller mosque which introduces the early Ottoman style of a t-shape. This mosque was built in the early 14th century supposedly under the second Sultan Orhan, but has been heavily remodeled since and seems nothing of its age on the inside.
Not more than 100 meters from Orhan Gazi is Ulu Camii, or the Great Mosque. This massive congregational mosque was built under Beyazid the first. Beyazid was leaving Bursa to campaign Europe and promised that if he returned victorious he would build twenty mosques in the honor of the Ottomans. He did return victorious, but instead of twenty mosques, he built one large mosque with twenty domes. I found Ulu Camii to be incredibly unique. It's floor space is comparable to Sultanahmet or Suleymaniye in Istanbul but it does not feature the classic Ottoman style of massive cascading and vaulted domes. Each of the twenty domes in Ulu Camii is on the same plane. The center dome is made of clear glass so there is an abundance of natural light inside. Underneath the main dome there is a large marble fountain for muslims to do their ablutions in (which I imagine is especially helpful on typical rainy Bursa days). The area around the mihrab was under construction so I did not get to see that, but there was still a lot to see inside. Ulu Camii has a prolific amount of calligraphy on its walls. Almost every space on the wall has some sort of calligraphy or inscription. The other things that struck me about Ulu Camii was that it was certainly the busiest mosque I've been in. There seemed to be very few tourists in there and even though we made a point to go outside of prayer time, the mosque was full of people praying and talking, children running about, etc. There were white boards with what seemed to be announcements on them and, in all, it seemed the most like a christian church that I've seen. This was certainly emphasized the congregational aspect of this mosque, unlike the mosques of Istanbul which were made to glorify leaders, this was certainly built with the community in mind.
The third mosque is known as Yeşil Camii or The Green Mosque. This mosque is on the order of the size of Orhan Gazi and was built in the early 15th century by Çelebi Mehmet (or Prince Mehmet, he later became Sultan Mehmet I). This mosque has a bounty of decoration, mostly in an Iranian style with the tiles and materials coming from Tabriz. The most interesting aspect of this mosque from a decorative standpoint is the Imperial Loge which sits in the back of the mosque two stories about the hall. It's decoration is hard to explain. There are many tiles that line the arched loge in a star pattern, sticking out at various levels to give the appearance of the night sky. The artist who designed this is known as Al-Majnoon which, depending on your Arabic or Persain, means "The Crazy One" or "The Intoxicated One".
Bursa was not only a religous center however. It is home to the biggest covered bazaar I have seen outside of Istanbul. The central attraction to the bazaar is the Koza Han, or Silk Market. For centuries the famed Silk Road to China went through Anatolia and Bursa was the last stop before you reached Europed. Since its construction silk worm merchants have gathered here once a year, usually in late spring, to auction off their worms and pure silk. This still continues today and has seen a bit of resurgence of late as European markets in Rome and France have declined.
That more or less sums up my trip to Bursa. There are pictures up on Facebook, but they are still not letting me post a link to them on this site. I may be setting up an account somewhere else for the remainder of the trip. This weekend we will visit Ancient Ephessus and Meryemana.
'till then, Hosça Kalın!
Today Bursa is a crowded (by Turkish standards) city of one million people. It's economy has boomed recently because many European car manufacturers have set up plants nearby and have thus accented the tourism industry there. Bursa is a typical winter getaway, but not necesarily for Westerners. Arabs are known to frequent the Çekirge (grasshopper) region of the city for its exquisite clutch of hamams and proximity to Uludağ where is the best skiing in Turkey can be found. But this is all an echo of the city's historical importance.
Bursa is in fact the first Ottoman city and its capital until they crossed the Bosphorus and conquered Edirne in the 15th century. Much like the United States moved its capital from Philadelphia to New York to Washington D.C., Bursa was not large enough for the quickly growing Empire and not glorious enough to strike awe into the hearts of the world. That said there is a lot of history there in the seat of Osman, Orhan, Murad and Beyazid. First there are three imperial mosques in the town center, which I was able to visit.
The oldest of the these mosques is Orhan Gazi Camii. This is a smaller mosque which introduces the early Ottoman style of a t-shape. This mosque was built in the early 14th century supposedly under the second Sultan Orhan, but has been heavily remodeled since and seems nothing of its age on the inside.
Not more than 100 meters from Orhan Gazi is Ulu Camii, or the Great Mosque. This massive congregational mosque was built under Beyazid the first. Beyazid was leaving Bursa to campaign Europe and promised that if he returned victorious he would build twenty mosques in the honor of the Ottomans. He did return victorious, but instead of twenty mosques, he built one large mosque with twenty domes. I found Ulu Camii to be incredibly unique. It's floor space is comparable to Sultanahmet or Suleymaniye in Istanbul but it does not feature the classic Ottoman style of massive cascading and vaulted domes. Each of the twenty domes in Ulu Camii is on the same plane. The center dome is made of clear glass so there is an abundance of natural light inside. Underneath the main dome there is a large marble fountain for muslims to do their ablutions in (which I imagine is especially helpful on typical rainy Bursa days). The area around the mihrab was under construction so I did not get to see that, but there was still a lot to see inside. Ulu Camii has a prolific amount of calligraphy on its walls. Almost every space on the wall has some sort of calligraphy or inscription. The other things that struck me about Ulu Camii was that it was certainly the busiest mosque I've been in. There seemed to be very few tourists in there and even though we made a point to go outside of prayer time, the mosque was full of people praying and talking, children running about, etc. There were white boards with what seemed to be announcements on them and, in all, it seemed the most like a christian church that I've seen. This was certainly emphasized the congregational aspect of this mosque, unlike the mosques of Istanbul which were made to glorify leaders, this was certainly built with the community in mind.
The third mosque is known as Yeşil Camii or The Green Mosque. This mosque is on the order of the size of Orhan Gazi and was built in the early 15th century by Çelebi Mehmet (or Prince Mehmet, he later became Sultan Mehmet I). This mosque has a bounty of decoration, mostly in an Iranian style with the tiles and materials coming from Tabriz. The most interesting aspect of this mosque from a decorative standpoint is the Imperial Loge which sits in the back of the mosque two stories about the hall. It's decoration is hard to explain. There are many tiles that line the arched loge in a star pattern, sticking out at various levels to give the appearance of the night sky. The artist who designed this is known as Al-Majnoon which, depending on your Arabic or Persain, means "The Crazy One" or "The Intoxicated One".
Bursa was not only a religous center however. It is home to the biggest covered bazaar I have seen outside of Istanbul. The central attraction to the bazaar is the Koza Han, or Silk Market. For centuries the famed Silk Road to China went through Anatolia and Bursa was the last stop before you reached Europed. Since its construction silk worm merchants have gathered here once a year, usually in late spring, to auction off their worms and pure silk. This still continues today and has seen a bit of resurgence of late as European markets in Rome and France have declined.
That more or less sums up my trip to Bursa. There are pictures up on Facebook, but they are still not letting me post a link to them on this site. I may be setting up an account somewhere else for the remainder of the trip. This weekend we will visit Ancient Ephessus and Meryemana.
'till then, Hosça Kalın!
