THE SINS OF DESPINA HATUN

Since the 14th century, one woman has haunted the history of the Ottoman Empire and the very minds of their historians with her influence over a Sultan who suffered a hummiliating fate.

The only wife of a Sultan who has been the target of curses; Despina Hatun. 

The reason for this great hatred of her has to do with the fact that she was influential and remain christian throughout her marriage. She was able to maitain the first and main place in the harem of her husband and to make him like her. A likeness that overtime grew into love and devotion. 

Her wishes did not remain mere wishes, and for this reason the muslim associates of Sultan Yildirim Bayezid Han, as well as later Turksih historians resented her. Today most people remember her as “Bayezid’s great love”. 

To Ottoman sources she was a fatal woman who lured their Sultan into sin. It can be concluded from that amount of hatred that she was allowed privileges and more power than was allowed for a foreign wife of a Sultan, or an imperial wife in general.

SHE MADE THE SULTAN FALL FOR HER

"As for Yıldırım, let's say that he fell in love with the princess." - Necdet Sakaoğlu. Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları, pg 83

"Throughout his life he was devoted to Despina, and his brother-in-law Stephen in turn was a devoted and steadfast friend." - Herbert Gibbons. The Foundation of the Ottoman Empire

According to Chalkokondyles, when Bayazit's favorite wife, Lazareva [daughter], whom he took everywhere with him into battle, was captured and handed over to Tamerlane, he ordered that wine be served to him there, in front of her husband. The enraged Bayazit told Tamerlane that what he was doing was not worthy of his father and mother. - Две српске султаније : Оливера Лазаревић (1373-1444), Мара Бранковић (1418-1487), pg 107

"When the latter's wife, the daughter of Lazar, whom he loved more than any of the others, had been taken away, and Timur was taking her around in the camp with him, he made her pour his wine in front of Bayezid, her husband." - Laonikos Chalkokondyles

"He kept her close – she accompanied him everywhere - he appeared unable to part from her. She was the one person, who influenced him most and was of course blamed by the Ottoman chroniclers for the fall of Beyazid’s empire into the hands of Timur. They considered the young sultan totally captivated by her."- Anna Buxton. The European Sultanas of the Ottoman Empire

It is widely understood that throughout their marriage Despina and Bayezid shared a devoted sentiment-perhaps more on his part-despite the circumstances that brought them together. The couple had similar interests such as politics, wine, partying, European customs, conversations and according to historians found constant erotic pleasure with each other. Though all of these cited interests might just be Ottoman historians attempts to depict this woman as deceitful.

" The sexually robust woman – she satisfies all his desires- but remains a Christian." - Richard Franz Kreutel performs a service to Ottoman polemic.

It is said that for some days, Bayezid remained in Despina's chamber and completely forgot about state affairs.

Olivera (Despina Hatun) is accused by Ottoman historians of using her charms and beauty to lure Bayezid to her. This seems highly untrue as Bayezid's harem is labeled as being filled with "forbidden beauties." He could have set his sight on another with more charm and beauty, and in fact he did, but still remained devoted to Despina.

It seems they use her beauty and political influence only as a means to label her as a Femme Fatale who is cunning, power-hungry and worst even, an infidel. Yet, when we look at foreign sources about the personality of Despina Hatun, she is describe as being gentle and flowery.

SHE WAS ALLOWED POLITICAL INFLUENCE

According to Dr. Zeljko Fajfric in his work "Srpske kraljice i princeze," released in 2007, no sultana before Olivera, who did not convert to Islam, managed to become so influential.

Yet something that is enough to critize him on is that he only puts this influence of hers to be due to her charms and beauty, yet again unintentionally labeling her as a femme fatale.

If beauty was all it took to have political influence, dozens more like her would have succeeded in that aspect, but she remains the only wife of Bayezid who had significant importance on politics.

Either Bayezid often sought after her opinion in matters of state or he took her as an advisor which might be the reason she was often with him, but no, a good scent, a soft spoken voice, long hair or enchanting glances will work, at least not for very long, even for a man prone to pleasure like Bayezi, and as we know Despina's political influence grew more with time than it decline.

A few things that are attributed to her council...

I: She helped accelerate the transfer of Prince Lazar's body back to Serbia.

II: She freed and paid ransoms for enslaved christians with the help of her brother; Stefan.

SHE BROUGHT DEBAUCHERY TO THE OTTOMAN COURT

Despina is often blamed for having introduced wine at the Ottoman court.

This sin that Bayezid's partook in can not be credited to Despina because he was already throwing such feasting assemblies ever since his princehood. Him and Despina married in 1390, he was well too familiar with wine and pleasure prior to their marriage.

Despina, later on, might have organized such festivities for him.

" Wine and kebab assembly was established. The infidel's daughter came and toasted Ali Pasha. The lady said, see the moment." - Aşıkpaşazade.

Still it is highly unlikely that Despina, who comes from a culture where married women do not speak in the presence of men would even partake in such assemblies filled with drunk men.

What is more likely is that she organized her own wine assemblies in the harem, with the presence of other women, but the chances of her doing such a thing as drinking in the presence of men is highly unlikely.

She might have even brought wine and so called debauchery to the once "pious" court of the harem, but as for the men; who take up the majority parties in politics and war, they were already familiar with the beverage.

The Sublime Porte of the Osmanoğlu Dynasty, Her Colonies, and Protectorates, under the reign of Mehmed IV the Holy Defender, circa 15th, Jumada al-awwal, 1143 Hijra.

After the death of his uncle, Ahmed III, Mehmed IV inherited a Sultanate that had been humiliated with continuous losses during the reign of Ahmed III, though most had come from separate treaties between their allies, whom had called the Sultanate into their wars. Seeking to rectify such humiliation, Sultan Mehmed declared war against Milan in 1721, and defeated the Milanese at the Battle of Verona, which swiftly put an end to the war. At the end of the year, Milan seceded Padova. Two years later, Mehmed annexed the last remnants of Genova, putting an end to the betrayers of Anoz, a loss which occurred two centuries prior. 

Not even three years after this victory, the Turks joined forces with the Russian Tsardom, putting an end to the revolution in Poland, which had sparked anti-Ottoman resentment and separatist fervor in their own colonies in North America. Another major victory for the young Sultan. Five years later, Mehmed would force the Sultanate of Hormuz to surrendering their lands, forcing them into tributary, and than later annexation a few months afterward. Taking offense to this, the descendant of Timur, the Great Sultan Ulugh III, ordered the immediate surrender of the eastern coast of the Arabian Pennisula and Ahvaz. Mehmed himself, as he did in his conquests of Padova and in Poland, and like his ancestors all before him, rode out, but this time facing a fellow Sunni.

  From the thirty years after Bayezid III’s victory over the Timurids and the acquisition of Zagros Mountains, the Caliphate and the Sultanate had enjoyed peaceful trade and comradeship, as the Ottomans, soon after their victory in 1683, had convinced its ally, the Russian Tsardom, to not annex any lands of the Timurids during their brief war. This quickly changed during the reign of Mehmed’s predecessor, Ahmed III, whose abolitionism and banning of slavery within the Sublime Porte, and throughout the Ottoman Caliphate, had led to the souring of relationship, as the usage of Caliphate had became relevant during the early 17th century under the reign of Mehmed III in 1611, for if the Caliph had declared the use of slaves blasphemous, then the other Islamic powers would be inclined, if not forced, to abolish the ancient institution. But the losses under Ahmed’s ruin had allowed the Timurids a moment of reprieve, and the institution would continue unaltered in the Timurid Sultanate until the rise of Mehmed IV. Mehmed, instead of marching through the Zagros Mountains, summoned a fleet of frigates, threedeckers, and east indianman, numbering fifty in all, to sail from Basrah to Hümüz, the island which the Sultanate of Humuz had originated from. After besieging the small fort on the island, and permitting its garrison to surrender, Mehmed, with his admiral, Abdurrahman Hersekli, defeated the Timurid navy, off the coast Mogostan.

  The Great Sultan of the Timurids, Ulugh III, had been off the coast, at Owasim. He had believed a swift landing near Ottoman terriotry would had forced Mehmed to challange him on his lands. But Ulugh had to observed as his navies of old late 17th century ships were destroyed by the modern navy of the Ottoman Caliph. He soon surrendered Ulugh was besieged by land, under Mehmed’s Grand Vizier Said Alemder, and by Mehmed on seas, and conquered by the Ottomans within weeks of the war. Many within the Ottoman Empire celebrated the defeat of the Timurids, remembering the fall of the Thunderbolt Sultan, Beyazid II, by the hand of Ulugh’s ancestor, Tamerlane, three centuries prior. Now, the Timur’s descendant was forced to kneel before Mehmed, kiss his hand, and swear his subservience to the Caliph. The Timurids had been permitted to not swear the submissiveness to the Ottoman Sultan, by the mother of Ahmed III, the Valdie Sultan and regent, Zeynep Celeoloğu in late 1705, and would continue under the reign of Ahmed III. However, Mehmed’s conquest forced the Timurids to recognize the Ottomans as Caliphs and suzerain, and Ulugh agreed to offer away the eastern coast of the Arabian Pennisula, one of the few remaining lands out of Ottoman rule, and the island of Hümüz. Even more surprising, Ulugh was forced to secede the Afghan people, who had been under Timurid rule for two and a half centuries. He did so, and the Afghan people soon were under the guarantee of Mehmed IV, with a larger Afghan shiekdom then they had previously been awarded toward.

  Mehmed IV, the Restorer, returned to Konstantiniyye as a victor. With three conquests trailing behind him, Mehmed restored the prestige of the Ottoman Empire, secured the the borders of his empire, ended the separatist fervor within his American colonies, and fifteen years of constant humiliation within the empire. Newly invigorated, the Ottoman Sultanate, further enriched by Mehmed IV’s conquests, alongside the trading posts, mercantile empire, and colonies Mehmed declared the beginning of a canal, that would span from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. This, he believed, would have the added benefit of ending the Portuguese control of spices within the Indian Sea, as it would allow other countries to trade through Ottoman-controlled seas, alongside the additional maneuverability for the Ottoman Navy.

  However, with the east situated, Mehmed looks back to Italy, to defeat the last remnant of an Ottoman-ruled Italian Peninsula. Milan stilled ruled the lands cradled by the Alps, and into the eastern-northern lands of the Caucasus plains, the once submissive and subservient Golden Horde was thrown into a revolution, weakening the Sultan’s control as Caliph in those lands.

On the 2nd of June, 1731, Sultan Mehmed IV declared war against the godless-revolutionary government. Surprising the Sultan, the angered Ulugh joined the side of the Revolutionaries. Though almared by this relization that he would be forced to fight a two-front war, Mehmed knew that the odds were with him. He confidentially pushed further into Golden Horde terriotry, defeating the fleeting armies the revolutionary government sent. Within the span of five months, most of the forts within the Golden Horde were controlled by the Ottomans. On the 2nd of November, Mehmed began to siege down the capital of the Golden Horde, Saratov. In a month, the capital fell.

  In the lands of the Timurids, the Ottomans pushed further and further. Though a good portion of their fleet in the Persian gulf was destroyed by the Timurids, the Ottoman army, under Receb Nishanci, did not halt. On the 28th of March, 1732, the Timurids surrendered. The Treaty of Herat forced the Timurids to release the lands of Punjab to Afghanistan, forced to pay war reparations for ten years, ordered the transferring of their trade to the Ottomans in the Indian Ocean.

  In 1733, the Great Horde capitulated, and the democratic government that had existed since the mid-1720s was disbanded, a new Sultan, under the Toluilun Dynasty, was reinstated to the throne. The Golden Horde was forced to pay representations for the war, and the Sultan, though angrily, was forced to kneel before Mehmed, and swear loyalty, like Ulugh, a three years before him.

Mehmed returned to Konstantinyee as a hero, a savior of Islam, and protector of the Faith, though some in his nations wondered why he never took any of the Golden Horde’s lands, or if the rule of the Sultan was as good in comparison to the democracy. But it was a minority thought, almost exclusive to the hungry merchants and traders, who sought to transform the Sublime Porte into an oligarchy. Almost all the Sultanate adored their conquering Sultan, from the high to the low; and his massive expansion plans for the empire was funded with a stronger economy than under Ahmed III.

Once thought to be the less desirable Sultan, the untimely death of Ahmed had not allowed him to pick a favorite heir, Mehmed IV’s reign would surely be considered a golden age by the annals of history, the resurrection to an empire loosing its speed, but Mehmed had spring it back to life with his reforms. The reign of Ahmed III had been the calming before the storm that would be Mehmed IV, son of Osman, Successor to the Prophet, Sultan of Sultans, Padishahs of Padishahs, Emperor of the Rome, and his eyes returned once more to the infidelity of the West, prime for pickings…

can you please explain the sultans nicknames, like "selim the grim" or "selim the blonde"? sorry for the grammar erros!

Hello! You mean all of them? I’m not sure I know them all to be honest. 

Murad I was called Murad Hüdavendigâr, which apparently means sovereign in Persian.

Bayezid I was called The Thunderbolt because his army was especially fast and efficient.

Mehmed I was called Çelebi Mehmed, which means the noble born (Çelebi was also the title of princes in the early empire)

Murad II was called The Great, because his reign shaped how the empire would be for centuries

Mehmed II was called The Conqueror because he conquered Constantinople.

Selim I was called The Grim or The Stern because nothing went on in the empire without his knowledge. He, and he alone, made executive decisions.

Süleyman I was called The Lawgiver because he had promulgated a new code of laws for the empire.

Selim II was called The Blond because he had inherited his mother’s fair hair.

Osman II was called The Young because he had only been 14 when he became sultan.

Mustafa I and Ibrahim were called The Mad because of their... madness.

Mehmed IV was called The Hunter because he particularly enjoyed that activity.

Mahmud II was called The Reformer for all the reforms he had implemented

Abdülmecid was called The Great Reformer for the same reason above

Abdülhamid II was called The Damned though not to his face, for his bloody persecutions of Armernians and Greeks.

Other than these nicknames, you often find sultans who are called Gazi, which means warrior. Especially after Süleyman I, those who are called like that are the only ones who went to war and/or conquered something, for example: Murad IV, Mehmed IV, Süleyman II, Ahmed II, Mustafa II, Ahmed III, Mahmud I, Abdülhamid I

One ironic testament of the Ottoman Empire's strength is its ability to recover from a disaster that would have been fatal to other Empires of the time.

European arms could not vanquish the Ottomans. Middle Eastern Islamic arms could not vanquish them either. But Timur-i-leng, the aspiring successor to Genghis Khan, on the other hand, absolutely did smash the everloving shit out of them. Timur had gunpowder armies to match the Ottomans, and a superior force honed by being able to wage the tasks of taking cities and face the challenges of nomadic forces on equal terms when this was usually beyond the armies of sedentary societies.

Bayezid I did go to fight Timur with the confidence of an army that steamrolled its enemies as a matter of course. In a short span of time his army was destroyed, he was captured, and the Byzantine Empire gained an extra 51 years' worth of survival.

Most empires or states of the time that faced an equivalent catastrophe would have collapsed. The Ottomans survived, rebuilt, and resumed the onward march of expansion that saw them consolidate their empire in the Balkans, expand into the Middle East, and ultimately ring and fully destroy the last of the Byzantine dynasties.

Bayezid

Bayezid I , nicknamed Yıldırım (Ottoman: ییلدیرم), "Thunderbolt"; 1354 – March 8, 1403) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1389 to 1402. He was the son of Murad I[1][2] and Valide Sultan Gülçiçek Hatun. Bayezid ascended to the throne following the death of his father Murad I, who was killed by Serbian knight Miloš Obilić during (June 15), or immediately after (June 16), the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, by which Serbia became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. Immediately after obtaining the throne, he had his younger brother strangled to avoid a plot. In 1390, Bayezid took as a wife Princess Olivera Despina, the daughter of Prince Lazar of Serbia,[3] who also lost his life in Kosovo. Bayezid recognized Stefan Lazarević, the son of Lazar, as the new Serbian leader (later despot), with considerable autonomy.

 From 1389 to 1395 he conquered Bulgaria and northern Greece. In 1394 he crossed the River Danube to attack Wallachia, ruled at that time by Mircea the Elder. The Ottomans were superior in number, but on October 10, 1394 (or 17 May 1395), in the Battle of Rovine, on forested and swampy terrain, the Wallachians won the fierce battle and prevented Bayezid from conquering the country. Meanwhile, he begin the reunification of the Turkish Anatolia, conquering the beyliks of Aydin, Saruhan in 1390, the beyliks of Mentese, Germiyan and Kastamonu in 1391; and finally the great emirate of Karaman and the ex-emirate of Burhan-ad-Din in Tokat, Sivas and Kayseri(1397–98). Next he occuped the cities of Malatya and Elbistan, in a war with the mamluk sultan of Egypt.

 In 1394, Bayezid laid siege to Constantinople,[4] the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Anadoluhisarı fortress was built between 1393 and 1394 as part of preparations for the Second Ottoman Siege of Constantinople, which took place in 1395. On the urgings of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaeologus a new crusade was organized to defeat him. This proved unsuccessful: in 1396 the Christian allies, under the leadership of the King of Hungary and future Holy Roman Emperor (in 1433) Sigismund, were defeated in the Battle of Nicopolis. Bayezid built the magnificent Ulu Camii in Bursa, to celebrate this victory.

 Thus, the siege of Constantinople continued, lasting until 1402.[5] The beleaguered Byzantines had their reprieve when Bayezid fought the Timurid in the East.[6] At this time, the empire of Bayezid included Thrace (except Constantinople), Macedonia, Bulgaria, and parts of Serbia in Europe. In Asia, his domains extended to the Taurus Mountains. His army was considered one of the best in the Islamic world. In 1400, the Central Asian warlord Timur succeeded in rousing the local Turkic beyliks that had been vassals of the Ottomans to join him in his attack on Bayezid, who was also considered one of the most powerful rulers in the Muslim world during that period. In the fateful Battle of Ankara, on 20 July 1402, Bayezid was captured by Timur and the Ottoman army was defeated. Many writers claim that Bayezid was mistreated by the Timurids. However, writers and historians from Timur's own court reported that Bayezid was treated well, and that Timur even mourned his death. One of Bayezid's sons, Mustafa Çelebi, was captured with him and held captive in Samarkand until 1405. Four of Bayezid's sons, specifically Süleyman Çelebi, İsa Çelebi, Mehmed Çelebi, and Musa Çelebi, however, escaped from the battlefield and later started a civil war for the Ottoman throne known as the Ottoman Interregnum.[7] After Mehmed's victory, his coronation as Mehmed I, and the death of all four but Mehmed, Bayezid's other son Mustafa Çelebi emerged from hiding and began two failed rebellions against his brother Mehmed and, after Mehmed's death, his nephew Murat II.

Yıldırım Bayezid İngilizce Hayatı

Yıldırım Bayezid İngilizce Hayatı

Murad’s eldest son, Bayezid, known as Yıldırım (“the Thunderbolt”), was proclaimed leader on the field of battie, where his first command was that his brother Yakub be executed. All resistance to Ottoman might seem to have vanished: while his generals were raiding into Bosnia and aeross the Danube into Hungary and Walachia, he himself fixed a tributary status on Serbia and acted as kingmaker…

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Bursa’nın İngilizce Tanıtımı

Bursa’nın İngilizce Tanıtımı Area: 11.043 km² Population: 1.603.137 (1990) Traffic Code: 16 Bursa is located in the northwest of the Anatolian peninsula and southeast of the Marmara Sea. The shores of the Marmara Sea are 135 km away. The most important peak in the province is Uludağ, which is a ski resort and national park. The most significant lakes are Lake Iznik and Lake Uluabat. Districts: Nilüfer, Yıldırım, Osman Gazi, Büyük Orhan, Gemlik, Gürsu, Harmancık, İnegöl, İznik, Karacabey, Kales, Kestel, Mudanya, Mustafa Kemal Paşa, Orhaneli, Orhangazi and Yenişehir are the district of Bursa province. Ottoman Capital Bursa Capital Cities of Ottoman The First Capital of Ottoman Empire The Ottoman province of Hüdavendigar When the Seljuks commenced their conquest of Anatolia from 1071 onwards, they began settling their new lands with Turkish tribes from further east. When the Seljuk Empire weakened and began to fall apart in the thirteenth century, numerous small Turkish principalities sprang up, one of which was the Ottoman Beylik in northwest Anatolia. The Ottomans expanded rapidly as they conquered additional lands from the Byzantines. Founder of the Ottoman Beylik was Osman Bey, who was born in the town of Söğüt in Bithynia in 1258. In 1299 he conquered Bilecik, Yenikent, İnegöl and İznik, and this is the year regarded as the founding of the Ottoman Empire, which was to survive for over six hundred years. As Osman Gazi gained in strength, the Byzantine governor of Bursa Atranos sought assistance from the governors of Kestel and Kite. Their united army joined battle against the Ottomans at Koyunhisar in 1301. The Ottomans were victorious. Osman Bey resolved to take Bursa, and began preparations to besiege the city in 1317. First he had to cut off its link to the sea, for which purpose he built a fort near Kaplıca and appointed his nephew Ak Timur its commander. His slave Balabancık was given command of a second fort in the mountains behind Bursa, so cutting off access to the city on either side. The Turks then demolished the fort of Atranos Beyce and made their encampment at Pınarbaşı. Leaving the command of the army to his son Orhan Bey, Osman Gazi returned to Yenikent. The siege lasted eight years, and meanwhile Osman Gazi fell seriously ill and could no longer fight. He ordered his son Orhan Gazi to take Bursa, and Orhan began by taking Evrenos Fortress. The governor of the fortress fled into the mountains. Orhan Gazi sent Mihal Bey to the governor of Bursa demanding his surrender. The governor sent a gift of precious clothes and forty thousand gold sovereigns as a gesture of submission, and after consulting his father Orhan Gazi allowed the governor to leave the city with his family and entourage. They made their way to Gemlik on the coast and sailed for Istanbul. In 1326 the Turkish army entered Bursa. This news reached Osman Gazi on his deathbed, and he died happy in the knowledge that his greatest goal had been achieved. The capture of Bursa marked a turning point for the Ottoman Empire. Orhan bin Osman, who had been born in 1281, the year that his grandfather Ertuğrul Gazi died, was now the second Ottoman sultan. Orhan Gazi’s elder brother one day advised him to do three things. The first was to strike coins in his name, the second was to wear clothing which would distinguish him from his subjects, and the third was to form an army of infantry soldiers to be paid out of the treasury. Previously coins had been struck in the name of the Seljuk sultans, but in 1328, following his brother’s advice, Orhan Gazi became the first Ottoman sultan to mint his own coins. He also introduced white uniforms for his soldiers, in place of their former red and black apparel. In 1335 Bursa became the first Ottoman capital. Orhan Gazi ruled for nearly 35 years until his death in 1360. He was succeeded by his son Murad, who had been born in 1326. Sultan Murad Han bin Orhan bin Osman Gazi was the third Ottoman sultan, and became known by the cognomen Hüdavendigar. In 1362 Murad captured the city of Edirne (Adrianople). One night Murad Hüdavendigar dreamed that a white bearded man with a radiant face told him to build a palace in Edirne. A great palace was immediately built and in 1363 the Ottoman capital moved from Bursa to Edirne, although Bursa retained its spiritual and economic importance. In 1399 Bayezid Yıldırım (the Thunderbolt) founded a hospital in Bursa where the hot mineral springs of the city featured largely in the treatment of patients. When Timur’s armies captured Bursa in 1402, they destroyed and burnt many of the medreses (colleges), mosques and other monuments of the city. In 1429 further disaster struck, this time in the form of plague which decimated the population. In 1482, when Cem Sultan was fighting for the throne against his brother Bayezid, he ruled in Bursa for just eighteen days, but in this brief time struck coins in his name. In the battle against the army of his brother Bayezid II, Cem’s forces were defeated and he fled the city. BUILDINGS OF BURSA Bursa style The Ottoman architecture of Bursa has a distinctive style with close parallels to that of the Byzantines. With the conquest of the Byzantine lands of the region many local masons, carvers and other artisans continued to work for the Ottomans. The Byzantine influence which they brought to the new buildings of the Ottoman principality distinguished them from those of the other Turkish principalities of Anatolia. Bursa style lived on after the conquest of Edirne and Istanbul in 1362 and 1453 respectively, showing itself in the architecture of the early monuments constructed in both these cities. The T plan which developed in the fourteenth century can be seen in almost all the royal mosques of Bursa. The Bursa arch is another distinctive feature. This broad flattened arch does not have great carrying strength, and is rather decorative than functional in character. Ulu Mosque Bursa Ulu Mosque belongs to the early Islamic style of mosque building, with a multidomed roof supported by numerous piers and columns and a covered court. This mosque was built by the architect Ali Neccar for Yıldırım Bayezid in 1399. It has two large minarets and twenty domes of more or less equal size resting on twelve square pillars, the central dome being glazed. Inside are 192 inscriptions written by celebrated calligraphers executed on the walls and on panels. Yeşil Mosque The earliest example of Bursa style is the Yeşil (Green) Mosque, which was built in 1419 by the architect Vezir Hacı İvaz Paşa for Çelebi Sultan Mehmed. The tiles which lend their name to the mosque are the work of Mecnun Mehmed. The marble carving on the façade, window frames, door, stone inscriptions and ceiling above the door is exquisite. The early mosques of Bursa and İznik are characterised by plain lines emphasising spatial form, and a controlled use of decoration. Gradually the Ottoman decorative arts acquired their own style, and new masters emerged. The first Ottoman nakkaş -a decorator who painted and stencilled designs on plaster- was Ali bin İlyas Ali, who did all the painted decoration for the Yeşil Mosque. Muradiye Mosque Muradiye Mosque was constructed between 1426 and 1428 for Murad II and exhibits all the typical characteristics of Bursa style, including a reversed T plan. The domes and both minarets of this mosque collapsed in the earthquake of 1855 and were not rebuilt until 1902, when the mihrab (niche facing Mecca) and minber (pulpit) were renovated with the rococo decoration fashionable at the time. Emir Sultan Mosque Steps to the west side lead up to a gateway between two columns over which is a marble inscription consisting of a verse from the Koran. This leads into a large courtyard surrounded by a wooden colonnade, with a şadıruan -fountain for ablutions- in the centre. To the south stands the mosque, whose mihrab is revetted in İznik tiles. North of the mosque stands the tomb of Emir Sultan. Around most of the rectangular window frames are carved mukarnas (stalactite work), and above these the pediments are decorated with rumî scrollwork motifs. Vernacular architecture Traditional houses built in the style which developed in Bursa over the centuries of Ottoman nıle feature distinctive decoration. Most have fireplaces, unlike the houses of Istanbul. Above the main windows are smaller windows placed high in the walls with stucco tracery and coloured glazing. Walls, ceilings, and the doors of the fitted cupboards are all richly decorated. A considerable number of traditional houses survive in Bursa today, and although most date from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries they provide a remarkable picture of the vernacular architecture of the city. PEOPLE OF THE CITY Portraits Bursa is one of Turkey’s cities that has experienced a high influx of migrants over the centuries, and the communities of different people have each added their own colour to life in the city. In the sixteenth century a wave of Turks arrived here from Central Asia, for instance, doubling the city’s population between 1530 and 1575. Around the city were villages populated by Greeks who had been there since the middle ages, and during the reign of Mehmed II (1451-1481). Greek migrants from the Morea were settled in Bursa. Armenians from Kütahya first arrived here during the reign of Orhan Bey in the fourteenth century. When the Armenian Patriarchate was founded in Istanbul by Mehmed II in 1461 the Bursa metropolitan, Ovakim, was elected patriarch. From the early nineteenth century onwards Armenians from eastern Turkey came to Bursa in large numbers, and most of them settled in the neighbourhood of Setbaşı. Bursa’s first newspaper, the semi-official Hüdavendigar published by the city governor Hacı İzzet Paşa, introduced a section in Armenian from issue 82 onwards. Although there is said to have been a Jewish colony in Bursa as early as 79 BC, Jews first attained a significant presence in the city after it became the Ottoman capital, when Sultan Orhan gave permission for the Jews to build a sinagogue and their own quarter. Trade, money-lending, tailoring and goldsmithing were the occupations in which most of the Jews were engaged. When the Russians occupied Rumelia (the Ottoman provinces of eastern Europe) and Caucasia during the 1877-1878 Ottoman Russian War, large numbers of Muslims from these regions migrated to Bursa. Thirty thousand people came from Ruse in Bulgaria alone. But the majority of the newcomers were Georgians and Tatars. Those from Caucasia settled in the district of Yıldırım, those from Kazan in Mollaarap, and those from the Crimea in Alacahırka. There had been Copts in Bursa since very early times, and on the spring festival of Hıdırellez they would go to the area around the Lime Kilns in the foothills of Uludağ and spend the day in celebrations, in the course of which they also elected their chief, known as the çeribaşı. They lived in the neighbourhoods of Kanberler and Demirkapı. At the beginning of the twentieth century there were German, British, Austro-Hungarian, Spanish, Italian, French, Belgian, Greek and Iranian consulates in Bursa, and according to the population census carried out at this time 9.84% of the population were Greeks, 6.66% Armenian, 18% various others, and the remaining 65.5% Muslim Turks. In 1903 the provincial assembly’s members included Müftü Ali Rıza Efendi, the Greek metropolitan, the Armenian Archbishop Natalyan Efendi, the Armenian Catholic representative Arşoni Efendi, Archbishop Artin Efendi, and Chief Rabbi Moşe Hayim Efendi. Of the 19 qualified physicians working in the city five were Turkish, and of the 17 pharmacists four were Turkish. The week of the hyacinth festival was one of Bursa’s colourful annual events. The people would go out to picnic in the hyacinth meadows which surrounded the city. Women and men went separately, women on three days of the week and men on the other four. One spring day in 1869 when the women of Bursa were singing and amusing themselves in the hyacinth fields, two men joined them. The scandal was investigated by the judicial authorities and the two men interrogated. They said in their defence that they were strangers to the town and did not know that it was forbidden for men to go into the flower meadows that day. They were acquitted, but the incident was recorded in Bursa’s court records. Bursa has a rich culinary tradition that has evolved over many centuries, but it is famous most of all for its kebab. The German general Helmut von Moltke, who visited Bursa in 1836, wrote in his memoirs about the delicious flavour and cheap price of this kebab: “We ate lunch in typical Turkish style, in a kebab house. After washing our hands we did not eat around the table but seated upon it [this “table” would have been a large cloth spread on the floor]. I did not know where to put my legs. Then a wooden tray arrived, on which was the kebab, that is, small pieces of mutton cooked on skewers and wrapped in bread. This is a very delicious dish. After that came a plate of excellent salted olives, helva, which is a sweet dish much loved by the Turks, and a bowl of sherbet (raisins stewed in water with a lump of ice tossed in). For two hungry diners this meal cost altogether 120 para, or five shillings.” City of Exiles By the nineteenth century Bursa, with its beautiful old buildings and luxuriant greenery, had long since left its days as a capital city behind. Instead it had become a city of exiles. After long years of opposition to the Ottoman government abroad, Mevlânazade Rıfat came back to Istanbul and surrendered himself to the police. The martial law court sentenced him to exile in Bursa on the basis of a judgement reached in his absence at an earlier date. His exile was only repealed after Sultan Abdülhamid II was deposed on 27 April 1909. When Mehmed V Reşad succeeded him as the thirty-fifth Ottoman sultan, the dissidents of the previous regime were pardoned and Mevlânazade Rıfat returned to Istanbul. Mehmed Tevfik Bey, who was governor of Bursa between 1906 and 1909, recalls some of the exiles in his memoirs. His kindness to three sisters of his acquaintance was one of the main reasons for his friendship with Fehime Sultan, one of the daughters of Sultan Murad V (1876). Mehmed Tevfik Bey explains that when the three sisters, one from the house- hold of Sultan Abdülhamid, the other from the household of Sultan Mehmed V, and their elder sister were exiled to Bursa, he invited them to stay at his house until they found a permanent home of their own. The story of how Gazi Osman Paşa’s second son Kemaleddin Bey was sent into exile is a tragic one. Kemaleddin Bey was married to Naime Sultan, one of the daughters of Abdülhamid II. Naime Sultan fell ill at one point, and Dr. Hakkı Şinasi Paşa administered an injection of cacodilate. This gave rise to a rumour that Kemaleddin Bey was in love with Sultan Murad’s eldest daughter Hatice Sultan, who lived in the palace next door, and had instructed the doctor to inject his wife with poison in order to marry Hatice. When this humour reached the ears of Abdülhamid II, he could not be persuaded that the injection was indeed for medical reasons, and arranged a divorce for his daughter. Kemaleddin Bey was exiled to Bursa and Dr. Hakkı Şinasi Paşa elsewhere. Kemaleddin Bey rented a house in Bursa, where he was kept under house arrest, guarded by one of the imperial aides Major-General Mustafa Paşa and several other officers from the sultan’s riflemen. The illustrious prisoner was allowed no visitors, even the governor being unable to call with- out first obtaining the sultan’s permission. After the death of Sultan Murad V in 1904, one of his favourites together with a large number of women from her household were allocated pensions of 10 lira each and exiled to Bursa. It was commanded that a house be purchased for each, and that they be married off to those who applied for their hands. Since purchasing so many houses and settling each woman down would be a long process, two mansions were rented where they all lived together in the mean time. Necmeddin Molla’s elder brother Ali Ata was crossing the Bosphorus on a steam ferry one day where he lit his cigarette from that which the stranger seated beside him was smoking. The stranger turned out to be from the household of heir apparent Reşad Efendi, and when this political gaff was reported to Sultan Abdülhamid II, Ali Ata joined the ranks of exiles in Bursa. Fehim Paşa was another celebrated exile to Bursa at this time, and there were many others in and around the city. Bursa’s provincial clerk and director of education were both exiles. COMMERClAL LIFE Bazaars The külliye-mosque complex- built by Orhan Gazi after the conquest of Bursa included the city’s first bedesten or exchange building, Emir Han, where textile merchants stored and sold their wares. When the bedesten moved to a new building constructed by Sultan Yıldırım Bayezid (1389-1402), the other tradesmen moved into the old bedesten and other bazaars (çarşı or Pazar)grew up in the area around it. Hacı İvaz Paşa Çarşısı housed the felt makers, Sipahi Çarşısı the quilt makers, Gelincik Çarşısı the cotton carders and tailors, Atpazarı the horse and livestock traders, Kapan Çarşısı the fruit traders, and Tahıl Pazarı the dried fruit and nut traders. The famous Bursa cutlers had their workshops around the Tahıl Pazarı. In addition to these there was Uzunçarşı, Bitpazarı (the flea market), Tahtakale, Tavukpazarı (poultry market), Bakırcılar Çarşısı (coppersmiths market), Pirinç Han (rice market), Tuz Han (salt market), İpek Han (silk market), and Koza Han (cocoon market). As these indicate, trade and manufacturizing were vigorous and varied in Bursa. Tradesmen Bursa’s tradesmen and artisans belonged to guilds which exerted strict control over trading practices. Only those trained in a trade and qualified as masters were permitted to open their own shops, and the copying of items made by master craftsmen was prohibited. After completing a long period of apprenticeship, followed by years as a journeyman, the artisan was finally qualified as a master. The completion of each phase was marked by a ceremony. When an apprentice was judged ready to become a journeyman, his master would inform the steward and other officials of his own guild. All the members of the guild would then be invited to a feast at one of the excursion places outside the town, where they would be entertained by wrestling matches and other amusements. Then, to the recital of prayers, the guild official known as the yiğitbaşı would ceremonially gird the apprentice in the peştemal (cloth wrap or apron) which marked his new status as journeyman. Making the next step up to master craftsman did not only depend on long years of work and acquiring outstanding skill. Since a specific number of master craftsmen were permitted for each trade, the journeyman had to wait until one of the masters died or retired. Then the most senior journeyman of the guild would be ceremoniously granted the rank of master. The first silk mill was opened in Bursa by Konstanz Bey in 1833, and a second by Boduryan Efendi in 1843. Gradually the traditional small craftsmen made way for industrial scale manufacturing. Sericulture Bursa’s economic wealth rested to a considerable extent on agriculture – vine growing, fruit growing, dairy products, and on the olive production of Gemlik and Mudanya. The large quantity of mulberry trees also made Bursa an ideal centre for silk production. Producing the raw silk for the textile mills was a labour intensive process. Beginning with the production of the eggs, through to hatching the worms and the cocoon stage, all involved considerable risks. One of the worst disasters was pebrine, a disease affecting silkworms which broke out in France and spread to Bursa in the 1860s. As a result output plunged, and many producers went out of business and began to uproot the mulberry orchards. Then the news arrived that a cure for the disease had been discovered in France, and unaffected eggs were imported. Production went smoothly only for a while, before the disease broke out again. As the need for technical knowledge in the silk production sector became evident, it was decided to open a school for this purpose. Known as the Silk School (Harir Dariılttalimi) it opened on 2 April 1888 in a house rented from Kazaz Ahmet Muhtar Efendi in the neighbourhood of Şehreküstü in Bursa. The first students graduated in 1889. Soon afterwards the school moved to a larger building in Setbaşı, a house belonging to Burdurizade Osman Efendi. In 1894, when it moved into a building constructed near Maksem, the school was renamed the Institute of Sericulture. Torkumyan Efendi was appointed principal of the institute, and as well as training large numbers of silk technicians he introduced the Pasteur technique of egg production which gave a valuable boost to Bursa’s silk industry. Silk weaving Bursa was the main textile manufacturing centre of the Ottoman Empire. In the early 1850s Bursa had fourteen textile mills equipped with steam driven machinery like their counterparts in Europe, and there were a further two in Mudanya. In Bursa there were around 150 to 200 looms weaving tulle, and pure and mixed silk fabrics. The traditional looms used in Bursa were extremely simple, consisting of a rectangular wooden frame on which the weft threads were stretched, and two cylinders for rolling up the fabric as it came off the loom. Lead weights kept the threads balanced and in tension as the alternate threads were pulled forward by a foot pedal for the shuttle to cross between them. Apart from the weights every part of the looms was made of wood. Bursa fabrics were celebrated far beyond the borders of the Ottoman Empire. They were exported as far a field as China, and filled the markets of Hungary, Poland, Italy and the Balkan countries. In the sixteenth century rich fabrics woven in Bursa from silk, wool and silver and gold thread were used for clothing worn by the Ottoman sultans and princes. Bursa fabrics included velvets, the velvet brocade known as çatma-which was also woven in Bilecik and Üsküdar, diba- a brocade incorporating gold thread, and a fine taffeta known as canfes. The weavers of Bursa had their own guild which inspected the bales of cloth before they could be sold, and stamped those which were up to standard. Those which did not pass inspection were confiscated. Each weaving shop specialised in one particular fabric type. Cotton yarn imported from abroad was subjected to similar close inspection before being put up for sale each Saturday in the market held in the courtyard of Ulu Mosque. Silk cocoons were sold at Koza Han. When foreign competition began in the eighteenth century the Bursa weavers were forced to produce fabrics more cheaply, and their quality gradually declined. SCHOOLS The Missionary School In October 1834 American Protestant missionaries began establishing schools in Turkey. They first opened a secondary school for boys in Pera in Istanbul, followed over the next five years by schools in İzmir, Bursa and Trabzon. Their curricula followed those of American schools, and they quickly won popularity. The American Girls School in Bursa had seventy pupils in four grades. In 1893 the lessons taught were Greek or Armenian and English, arithmetic and geography being taught in Greek or Armenian, and geometry, botany, physics, astronomy and history in English. IşıklarMilitaryHigh School This school was established in 1845 on the orders of Sultan Abdülmecid on the site which is today Heykel Meydanı square. It subsequently moved to a new building whose lower floor was of stone and upper floor of wood in the district of Işıklar. The new building was inaugurated by city governor Münir Paşa on 10 June 1892. A second building was added in 1894, and the number of pupils increased to five hundred. In 1911 a school hospital was added. During the Greek occupation following World War I the building was used as stables by the Greek forces. The school reopened on 11 December 1922. Işıklar Hill from which the district took its name, was originally known as Âşıklar or Lovers Hill, which in time was compted to Işıklar or Lights Hill. HamidiyeTechnicalSchool This technical school first opened on 10 April 1869 in a mansion called Türkmenoğlu Konağı in the neighbourhood of Filibos. Two years later it moved to a new building in Tophane. At first the pupils were oıily taught weaving, and they made fabric for gendarme uniforms. Subsequently shoemaking was added to the curriculum, and tools and teachers were sent from Istanbul. In the early twentieth century French and music lessons were added and a school band formed. In 1906 a shop was opened on Hükümet Caddesi to sell the shoes and fabrics made by the pupils. The school became the pride of the city, and local people raised funds for improvements. A lottery was held, and a livestock sale at Atıcılar was organised, at which a percentage of each purchase was donated to the school. Again in 1906 Necip Efendi of Bursa and Mirat Efendi of Istanbul obtained a licence to sell European made cigarette papers under the name Hamidiye Technical School Cigarette Paper, on which the profits also went to the school. MülkiyeİdadiSchool In 1885 a boys’ secondary school known as Mülkiye İdadisi was founded, and in July 1888 its fırst five graduates matriculated. Three more grades were added to the original four in 1891, and between 1901 and 1904 a chemistry laboratory, dormitory, refectory, and recreation room were added. In 1909 it became known as the Mektebi Sultani. Agricultural College This agricultural college was opened in March 1891 by city governor Mahmut Celaleddin Paşa to give boys practical training in agricultural technology. Known as Hüdavendigar Model Farm Agricultural College; it was built on land belonging to Topal Mehmed Ağa in the village of Hamitler. It accepted twenty pupils the first year, and for many years around fifteen boys graduated annually. In 1904 Mülkiye İdadisi had 325 pupils, Hamidiye Technical School 150 and the Agricultural College 78. In 1905 a teacher training school known as the Hamidiye Medresesi Muallimini opened, and this was later renamed Darülmuallimin. SPAS From Rome to the Byzantines A letter written by Plinius, the first Roman governor of Bursa appointed by the Emperor Trajan early in the second century AD, tells us that there were no baths in Bursa prior to that time. During the reign of the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I (527-565)when a major building programme was carried out in Bursa, baths were built at Pythia (today Çekirge) so that the public could take advantage of the hot springs there. More baths were added over the centuries and Bursa became one of the most important spas of the Byzantine period. Spas under the Ottomans The seventeenth century Turkish writer and traveller Evliya Çelebi declared, justly, that Bursa consisted of water. The two-domed baths at the spa built by Justinian were enlarged by Sultan Murad Hüdavendigar (1360-1389) who had another two domed section added. Over the centuries people came from far and wide to bathe in the hot mineral water here. They included members of the imperial family and household, notables and diplomats from Istanbul, foreign princes travelling in the region, and foreign scholars, writers and statesmen. Over the four years that Mehmet Tevfik Bey was governor of Bursa, for instance, he was host to the Duke of Holstein, brother-in-law of Wilhelm II of Germany, and his wife on 6 May 1906, to Prince Victor Napoleon of the Bonaparte family on 7 June 1908, and to Duke Carl Edward Saxe-Coburg and his wife on 4 July 1908. Bursa hamams consist of an entrance hall, a tepidarium, and the washing hall itself known as the halvet. The Ottoman poet Arif wrote of these baths, Those who enter remain Bathing in the life giving water Cures the ills of many At Bursa’s spa. In a letter to his father written during his sojourn in Turkey in the 1830s, Helmut von Moltke wrote: “I have already told you of the pleasures of the Turkish hamams. In Bursa the water is not artificially heated, but is by nature so hot that at first one cannot believe that one will live to survive immeı~sion in the large, clear pool without being scalded. There was a wonderful view from the terrace of the hamam which we entered and it was so comfortable that we were reluctant to leave.” TRANSPORT The Marmara coast In the nineteenth century Bursa was capital of the province of Hüdavendigar, which consisted of the districts of Balıkesir, Karahisar-ı Sahip and Kütahya, and the sub-provinces of Gemlik, Pazarköy, Mudanya, Yalova, Karamürsel, Tirilye, Bilecik, Lefke, Gölpazan, Söğüd, Mihaliç, Kirmasti, İnegöl, Yarhisar, Yenikent, İznik and Pazarcık. The province had three main ports on the Marmara coast: Gemlik, Yalova and Mudanya. Gemlik stood at the end of the gulf between the mainland and Bozbunın headland, which was the tail-end of the Samanlı Mountains. This port had been famous for its shipyards for centuries. Gemlik Harbour was sheltered from the northwesterly wind and so provided shelter to ships caught in storms. The port of Yalova further to the noıth had the disadvantage of poor road connections. The busiest port of the three, with convenient access to Bursa Plain, was Mudanya, with a hinterland filled with mulberry woods, olive groves and vineyards. According to Evliya Çelebi Mudanya was named after the daughter of Constantine the Great. In the 1850s the journey by sea from Istanbul to Mudanya took eight hours in calm weather. When the northwest wind was blowing a gale, high waves off Bozburun forced small ships to shelter in the mouth of the gulf until morning, so they did not arrive at Mudanya until the following day. Roads Travellers arriving at Mudanya by ship took horses for the last part of the journey to Bursa. Their way passed through orchards and vineyards, and for a long time the delightful view of the Marmara Sea was visible in the distance. Then as the traveller began the gradual descent from the hills the view of the sea disappeared, to be replaced by the sight of a city rising above a plain with many cypress trees. The city climbing the steep forested lower slopes of Mount Olympos had more than one hundred white minarets and domes. Nearing Bursa the traveller came to a bridge over the Nilüfer river, which wound its way between gigantic walnut trees with their dark leaves, pale green planes, verdant meadows and mulberry groves. Each step nearer to the city brought fresh scenic delights. The Railway In the second half of the nineteenth century the Ottoman government realised the crucial importance of constructing a railway across the country, and in 1871 an edict was promulgated for a main line from Istanbul to Baghdad. The Asian Ottoman Railway Company was founded, and a German engineer named Wilhelm von Pressel appointed its director. Pressel planned to begin the line at Haydarpaşa at the southern mouth of the Bosphorus. An independent line between Bursa and its port Mudanya was also envisaged, and the tracks for this local line began from Mudanya and reached Bursa in 1874. The tracks alone cost 185,000 Ottoman lira (4,200,000 French francs) and there was no money left to complete the work. Not until 17 years later, in 1892, was the project completed and the line put into operation by the Ottoman Railway Company owned by Monsieur Nagelmakers who purchased operating rights. It took just two hours for the train from Mudanya to reach Bursa’s Acemler Station. Since the railway was run by a foreign company the timetable was designed according to Western time, which led to confusiori (Turkish time divided day and night into twelve equal hours, which varied according to the length of daylight). The railway company hung up a notice on 5 September 1892 warning passengers that the timetable was based on Western time, but eventually gave into popular demand and adjusted the timetable to Turkish time. İznik İznik, with its thousand of years cultural heritage, occupied an important place in history. Having been the capital of four empires, it is one of the remarkable settlement places. History There are traces of a civilisation dates back to 2500 BC in Karadin, Çiçekli, Yüğücek and Çakırca Mounds near İznik. The settlement before the immigrations of Trak Tribes in the 7th century BC, took the name of Helikare. The word of ‘Khryseapolis’ (Golden City) was printed on the coins having been minted in the city. Having been renovated by Antigonos, General of Macedonia Emperor Alexander the Great in 316 BC, the city took the name of Antigoneia. After the death of Alexander the Great, the city was handed over to General Lysimakhos who won the battle against Antigonos and named the city as Nicaea, which was also the name of his wife. In 293 BC, it became a part of Bithynia Kingdom. During this period, the city was decorated with important architectural structures. Nicaea, having been the capital city of Bithynia Kingdom for a period, later on continued its presence as an important settlement area of the Romans. Nicaea got acquainted with Christianity by the efforts of Petrus, one of the disciples of Bithynia. During the reign of Emperor Constantine I, the prohibitions on Christianity were removed. In the early summer of 325 AD, Nicaea was the scene of an important meeting of 1st Consul in Senatus Palace. A text comprising of 20 articles, known as Nicaea Laws, and Christianity Feast Days were approved after this consul. In 787 AD, 7th Consul gathered in Hagia Sophia Church in İznik. The prohibitions on paintings and statues were removed under the leadership of Empress Irene. İznik has also been the capital city of the Seljuks and Byzantines through history. After having been captured by the Ottoman Army in 1331, İznik became a more active city and a centre of art, culture and trade. Many famous people lectured in Orhan Ghazi Madrasah during this period. The first Mosque, Madrasa and İmaret (Soup Kitchen) of Ottoman Period were built in İznik. İznik became an art centre during 14th and 15th centuries, and world wide famous tiles and ceramics were produced here. Its city texture, with its grid-planned city settlement from Hellenistic Age and monumental structures from the Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans, has still been preserving in İznik. Climate İznik has a temperate climate with wet winters. In summers, it is sufficiently rainy. The Art of Tile Making The development in the art of ceramic tiling in İznik can be easily understood from tile coverings on historical structures of which construction dates are known. Having been built between 1378 and 1391, İznik Green Mosque with its oldest Ottoman tiles which decorates its minaret continued the Seljuk tradition in aspects of technique and decor, but the colours and tints are richer than the ones of the Seljuks. The diversity of green and turquoise ceramic tiles of the Mosque attracts attention. According to the historical records, the ceramic tiles used in the constructions of İstanbul were produced in İznik. The centre of the ceramics known as Milet, Damascus group and Rhodes work is İznik. The great traveller Evliya Çelebi, who visited İznik in 17th century, has mentioned in his book that there were more than 300 tile kilns in İznik. Flower motifs such as tulip, hyacinth, pomegranate and clove were used in İznik Tiles as well as human, animal such as bird, rabbit, dog and ship figures. The most used colours are blue, turquoise, green and red. Where to Visit İznik Museum ( Nilüfer Hatun Soup Kitchen) This structure is one the beautiful examples of 14th century Ottoman Architecture. In 1338, Ottoman Ruler Murat the first had it built as an İmaret (soup kitchen) in memory of his mother Nilüfer Hatun. This charity house served meal to poor people every day. In Ottoman Architecture, T-shaped plan was used for the first time during the construction of this house. After having been used as a storehouse in the Republican Era, it was put into operation as a museum in 1960. Archaeological works of art from Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Periods are on display in the Museum. The works, having been unearthed in İznik Tile Kilns Excavation, draw the attention of many people. Tumulus, Rock Tombs and Monuments Berber Rock Berber Rock, a large room-shaped monumental tomb having been carved in rock, is located at the foot of a hill in the west of İznik. There are graves on the ground of it. It dates back to the 2nd century, and it is one of the important examples of the Hellenistic Period in İznik. Beştaş This monumental tomb, raising among vineyards in the west of the district, is on the road of ancient Rome. The tomb is also called as Obelisk or Nişantaşı. It is understood from the inscription in Greek that this tomb belonged to C. Cassius in the 1st century. An eagle or a statue of Nike, the Goddess of Victory is thought to have been over the 6th stone on the top of the tomb. It is clear from the remains that there is a statue of Philiscus in the other side of the tomb. Hypoge It is an underground tomb in Elbeyli Village. It is understood that it was built in the 4th or 5th century. The ceiling and walls are covered with coloured frescoes, typical to the early Christianity period. In the grave room, there are 3 graves. Dörttepeler Tumulus It is in the graveyard within Elbeyli Municipality. Two monumental tombs are found in the Tumulus. The first tomb is near the road. Rectangular grave room with a dromos (narrow passageway to the grave room), has two klines (stone seating) on both sides. The other tomb is in a grave room made of marble, and covered with rough stone and trees. SenatusPalace (ByzantiumPalace) The palace was built in the 4th century, and it is now covered with lake water. Floor mosaics are under ground. The first Nicaea Consul which was very important for the Christian Community gathered here in 325. City Walls The pentagonal city walls surrounding İznik are 4970 metre long. The construction of the city walls started in Hellenistic Period. But they took their final shape by the new additions during the Roman and Byzantine Periods. When looked from the junction point of two streets, four main gates can be seen. Two of the four main gates, namely Lefke and Constantinople Gates, have survived to the present day in good condition. Marble relief frieze pieces were used in the construction of these two gates. The masks brought from the theatre can be seen in Constantinople Gate. Theatre İznik Ancient Theatre was built on a large area between the lake shore and Yenişehir Gate. Theatre was built by the efforts of Bithynia Proconsul, Plinius between 111 and 112 during the reign of Empire Traianus. It was turned into a mass grave in the 13th century. In the following years, archaeological excavations revealed that a Church, Palace, Ottoman Ceramic Workshops and Tile Kilns had been constructed within it. Bocek Ayazma Being one of the intact remains from the 6th century, the structure is thought to have been a part of Hyakinthos Monastery. This circular structure, having been covered with a dome, is next to the Koimesis Church. The Church of Koimesis Bishop Hyakinthos had it built in the 8th century. It is supposed to have been a part of Hyakinthos Monastery. It was fully demolished by the earthquake in 1065, and later on it was renovated by additions. The mosaics and icons of the Church were renovated again in 1807. The Church of Hagia Sophia Being at the junction of two streets, the Church is in the very centre of the city. It is a work of Byzantine Period, and thought to have been renovated probably after the earthquake in 1807. It was renamed Orhan Ghazi Mosque in 1331. Having been demolished by the earthquake and fire, church was renewed to a great extent by Architect Sinan in 16th century. On the wall of a grave room, there is a fresco of Christ. The 7th Consul in 787 gathered here. Therefore, it is an important spot for faith tourism. The Church of Hagios Tryphonos It is located on the left side of the street towards Constantinople Gate. The cross shaped church has four columns. The wall technique and the cross-shaped plan of the church indicate that it was a Byzantine work having been built between the 10th and 12nd centuries. The Church of Ayatrifon Supposed to have been built by Teodoros Laskaris in the name of Aya Trinos in 13th century, the church is located on the right side of the street leading to the Yenişehir Gate. Its plan is similiar to the one used in Kariye Mosque in İstanbul. It is understood from the plan that it was covered with a huge dome, and its floor is decorated with beautiful mosaics. Hacı Özbek Mosque It was the first Ottoman mosque built in Iznik in 1333. Its tile-covered dome is in 8 m in diameter. The mosque does not have a minaret. Green Mosque Green Mosque, named after the colour of its minaret, is the symbol of the İznik. It was built by Architect Hacı Mustafa between 1378 and 1391. With its single dome, it is one of the most splendid mosques having been built in the Early Ottoman Period. Its unique minaret is on the right side of the mosque. Its unique minaret, which is a reflection of Seljuk tradition on the Ottoman art in the early period, is on the right side of the mosque. The main part is ornamented with blue and green ceramic tiles in a zigzag mosaic technique. Mahmut Çelebi Mosque Mahmut Çelebi had it built in 1442. Its square main part is covered with a single dome. The minaret is bricky. Orhan Bey Mosque The ruins of the mosque is located outside of the Yenişehir Gate. There is a Turkish Bath between the mosque and the city walls. Tombs Sheikh Kutbettin Mosque and Tomb, Eşref-i Rumi Mosque and Tomb, Yakup Çelebi Lodge and Tomb, Kırgızlar Tomb, Sarı Saltuk Tomb, Hayrettin Pasha Tomb, Çandarlı İbrahim Pasha Tomb and Soup Kitchen, Çandarlı Halil Pasha Tomb, Huysuzlar Tomb, Ahiveyn Sultan Tomb, Abdülvahap Sancaktarı Tomb are the important tombs in İznik. Rüstem Paşa Inn At present, it is in ruin between the houses. Some north and east parts of its wall is standing. It was built in the 16th century. İsmail Bey Hamam (Public Bath) It dates back to the late 14th and the early 15th centuries. With its interior architecture, it is an outstanding structure. The bath, covered with four domes, has five sections. Hacı Hamza Hamam (Public Bath) The bath is located next to the Mahmut Çelebi Mosque in the 15th century. It is also called as Murat the second Bath. There are two different sections for Women and Men, and Men Section is still being used. Meydan Hamam (Public Bath) The other name of the bath is Murat the first Bath. It dates back to the 14th century. The bath has two sections. What to Eat Lobster or Crayfish cooked in pottery casserole, Carp soup, Crayfish Salad, Catfish Shish and Stew are some of the special dishes which can be tasted in the restaurants around İznik Lake. Various kinds of Olive, produced in the region, can also be tasted. What to Buy World famous İznik Tiles can be bought. Don’t Leave Without Visiting İznik Museum, the Church of Hagia Sophia where the 7th Consul gathered and the Mosques ornamented with İznik Tiles, Seeing Tumulus and Monumental Tombs, Walking among the City Walls, Buying World Famous İznik Tiles, Contact Information Tourist Office Kılıçaslan Cad. 130 Tel / Fax: +90 224 757 19 33 Mudanya Mudanya, which is 25 km northeast of Bursa and at coast of Marmara Sea, is a center, where summer tourism is experienced densely due to its fresh air. History Mudanya is founded on VIIth century B. C. by immigrants from Kolofon, which was one of the 12 big cities of Ionia. Apamcia – Myrleia named this city was on today’s Hisarlık hill. Mudanya had lived Roman, Byzantium and Ottoman period. Climate Summers are hot and dry, winters are warm and rainy. How to Get It is possible to reach Mudanya by road and maritime lines. Where to Visit Mudanya Houses Most beautiful samples of Ottoman houses are in Mudanyada. Most important one of these houses is Tahir Paşa Mansion. Nearly all of these houses have gardens. There are well cared flowers in the gardens. MudanyaTruceHouseMuseum Art Nouveo waterside residence, which belongs to the beginning of the 19th century, and on Mudanya coastal road, and where Turkish – Greek war ending truce agreement is signed between TBMM government and ally states on 11th October, 1922 is used as a museum since 1937. Various documents and materials of Independence War and truce as well as properties of that period are exhibited within the Museum. Tel: (+90 224) 544 10 68 Open hour to visit: Between 08:00 – 12:00 / 13:00 – 17:00 Open days to visit: Everyday except Mondays Myrlea It is an antic city, which is 1 km south east of Mudanya and belongs to Britannia. KumyakaChurch It is constructed between 780 and 797 during Byzantium Emperor, IVth Constantinos Porphyrogenetos period. Beaches Places for swimming and have natural beauties in Mudanya, are ancient Greek settlements, Siye (Kumyaka) and Trilya (Zeytinbağ Don’t Leave Without Visiting Mudanya Truce Museum, Seeing Ancient Mudanya Houses, Visiting Siye (Kumyaka) and Trilya (Zeytinbağ), and going for swimming, Eating Çarşaf pastry, Turkish delight with walnut and fish. How to Get Bursa takes advantage of the vast land and sea transportation offered by its location. It’s air transportation has the potential for expansion. Highway: Bursa coach station is 10km from city center. There are also connections to other cities from Bursa. Coach Station Tel. : (+90-224) 261 54 00 Railway Station: Tel : (+90-224) 482 35 00 Maritimes: The sea transporation in Bursa is carried out through Gemlik and Mudanya piers. Both piers are approximately 30km from Bursa. Sea Transit: Boats leave from the Gemlik and Mudanya docks. Harbour Tel : (+90-224) 544 30 60 Air Travel: There are two airports in Bursa: Bursa and Yenişehir. Bursa airport is 8km from the city center:Bursa-Yenişehir airport. Airport Tel : (+90-224) 246 50 01 – 773 00 64 Where to Visit MUSEUMS The Museum of 17th century Ottoman Houses The wooden house in the neighborhood of Muradiye across from the Murad II mosque complex bears all the characteristics of a house planned and decorated in the 17th century and is one of the oldest houses in Bursa and without question the most beautiful. It has a vaulted hall opening onto the garden and a basement consisting of two low-ceilinged rooms that were used for winter storage. On the upper floor in what was called the head room, there is an elegant decor with a magnificent wooden cabinet with intricate engravings of flowers and plants and the wooden ceiling decorated with geometric shapes and a six-sided ceiling centerpiece, which reflect the characteristics and beauty of 17th century decorations. Museum Tel : (+90-224) 222 08 68 Open hours to visit : 08.00-12.00/13.00-17.00 Open days to visit : Everyday exept monday The Archeological Museum The museum was first established in 1904 in the Bursa Boys Highschool and was called the Imperial Museum (Hümayun). From 1972 to the present the museum has been located inside the Cultural Park. With many exhibits found in the region of Bithynia and Mysia, it has a cross-section of cultural items from as early as the 3rd millenium BC to the end of the Byzantine era. The most important exhibits are the fired clay ceramics found in the Yortan Graves in the region of Balıkesir (3rd century BC), the stone cutting instruments and bronze hand axes (2nd century BC) and the clay jugs and brooches from the Phrygian era and a Phrygian inscription. In the same display, there two very rare stele in Persian and Greek. The second salon has stone items from the Roman era. Items of interest here include portrait sculpture of the 2nd century AD and several depictions of the gods: busts of Zeus and some reliefs, reliefs of Herakles and statues of Cybele as well as a altar of Asklepios. The third salon is an exhibit of items from the classical era. There is a chronological exhibit of ceramic items from the Archaic, Classic, Roman and Byzantine periods. There is also a rich detailed selection of clay figurines and glass-ware from the Roman era taken from the museums collection. Other rare items include a bronze bust of Apollon and a statue of Athena, both of which are Roman. The fourth salon is a chronological display of coins issued by the cities in the Bithynia and Mysia regions, along with gold and silver coins of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. In the garden are busts of Herakles and Zeus, a lion statue and a rich collection of grave and altar steles. Especially interesting is an exhibition of the finest examples of tomb steles, of Early Roman to Late Byzantine, and sarcophagi belonging to the same age which can be seen here. Tel : (+90-224) 234 49 18-9 Open hours to visit : 08.00-12.00/13.00-17.00 Open days to visit : Everyday exept monday The Museum of Türk-İslam Art (Yeşil Medrese) One of the first Ottoman religious schools, the Yeşil Medrese is also known as the Sultaniye Medresesi. A number of famous scholars were trained here in this school, which, along with the Yeşil Külliyesi (mosque complex), was constructed by the architect, Hacı İvaz Paşa, between 1414 and 1424. It is very similar in design to the religious schools of the Anatolian Selçuks with their open courtyards. The school has 13 rooms with one main vaulted porch (eyvan), two side porches and an entrance porch. In front of the classrooms is a portico which surrounds the courtyard on three sides. In the building items from the 12th to the 20th century are on display and include ceramics, metal, wood carvings, weapons, hand-written documents, Islamic coins and inscriptions, as well as grave stones and ethnographic items. The ceramic tile decorations in the school are not as abundant as those in the mosque and tomb. The areas decorated with ceramic tile are the vault above the entrance and the ceiling and outer surface of the western vaulted porch. Tel : (+90-224) 327 76 79 Open hours to visit : 08.00-12.00/13.00-17.00 Open days to visit : Everyday exept monday AtatürkMuseum This building, which Atatürk stayed in upon his visits to Bursa, was given to him as a gift and he donated it to the City of Bursa in 1938. This two-story building made entirely of wood at the beginning of the 19th century is one of the era’s best and most interesting examples of civil architecture. It looks today exactly as it did when it was built. Located on Çekirge street next to the Çelik Palas Hotel, the museum has items that Atatürk himself used and the upper floor, called the ‘limonluk’ room has a display of photographs of Atatürk. Tel : (+90-224) 236 48 44 Open hours to visit : 08.00-12.00/13.00-17.00 Open days to visit : Everyday exept monday HüsnüZüberHouseMuseum In the neighborhood of Muradiya, it was first used as a State Guesthouse and then as the Russian Consulate. The 19th century Ottoman house was opened to tourists in 1992. The museum has an extensive collection of branded and burned wood pieces with Ottoman motifs made by the artist Hüsnü Züber. Müze Tel : (+90-224) 221 35 42 Open hours to visit : 10.00-17.00 Open days to visit : Everyday The ForestryMuseum The first and only Forestry museum in Turkey, it is known as the Watch Mansion and is located on Çekirge Street. Opened in 1989, there are around 2000 items on display including plant and animal fossils, forestry and communication devices, maps and photographs and documents regarding the history of forestry. Müze Tel : (+90-224) 234 77 18 Open hours to visit : 08.00-12.00/13.00-17.00 Open days to visit : Everyday exept sunday MudanyaMütarekeHouseMuseum The site of the cease-fire agreement signed on October 11 between the government of the Turkish Republic and the Allied forces which brought the Turkish – Greek War to an end, the 19th century house on the coastal road to Mudanya has been used as a museum since 1937. The Art Nouveo style house contains a number of documents and other items related to the War of Independence and the Armistice.. Müze Tel : (+90-224) 544 10 68 Open hours to visit : 08.00-12.00/13.00-17.00 Open days to visit : Everyday exept sunday CUMALIKIZIK Cumalıkızık is a village that has preserved the texture of residential Ottoman architecture until the present time. These historic houses are now protected. History Cumalıkızık was one of the first places settled by the Ottomans when they moved into Bursa. There are totally 270 historical houses in the village. Some of these houses are in process of restoration and maintenance. 180 of them are still being used as dwellings. In 1969, the remains of a Byzantine church were unearthed in the southeast of the village at the foothills of Mt. Uludağ. Some architectural works are on display in the Archeological Museum of Bursa. Climate Summers are hot and dry and winters are mild and rainy. Cumalıkızık Houses Generally Cumalıkızık houses have three storeys; relatives are used to share these houses together in total cooperation and harmony. This village has 270 houses, 180 of which are still in use. The privacy of the families was the primary concern during the construction of these houses. The ground floor, courtyard and the first floors of these houses were built by rubble and wooden walls in total accordance with the flooring of the street. The framework of the upper floor is filled with half-timbered wall and covered with tiles in the Ottoman style. It is not possible to see the inside of the house from outside. Upper floors are decorated with bay windows. Two types of layout generally are observed for Cumalıkızık houses. One of these is the exterior courtyard surrounded by a high wall built by rubbles. Passing through this courtyard, one will encounter the entrance door,which prevents direct connection to the street. However there is no courtyard in the second type of these houses. Living section of the house is directly available through the street door. The outside wall is strengthened with a horizantial beam embedded to it and there is also lightning and ventilation. The living area enables accesibility to the inner courtyard, stable, storages and stairs.The entrance door of the house is opened to both directions. These wings of the door generally made of walnut tree are attached by wrought iron braces and nails with large knobs.Door handles and knockers are also of wrought iron. The construction of the doors serve for the purpose of easiness while carrying the products and vehicles of agriculture inside. The living section is accessible from the outer courtyard or directly from the street surrounded by wooden columns on which the upper floor is perched on. The ground is paved with flat and wide stones.Living section is the most widely used part of the Cumalıkızık houses. The productions which are reaped are temporarily stored, seperated and arranged there. Chestnuts are shelled there. Wedding ceremonies are arranged there. Also the supplies of the heat are carrefully stowed there. If the living section is higher than normal, a mezzanine will be constructed to store and keep the materials for a long time here. At the ground floor, where most of the houseworks are carried out, there are depots, kitchen, lavatory, stable, hut and stove. The first floor with a lower height is where the households reside during the winter months. Bedrooms, siting rooms, baths and stoves are there. The second floor is used during the sumer months. Along the hall, there are rooms, eyvan( a vaulted room with one side open to the court), doorsteps and sofas. The main room is the most carefully arranged room on the upper floor. The flooring of the house is made by using beams and veneers nailed on them. Heating of the houses are provided by stoves. The roofs with two or four inclinations are covered by tiles in the Ottoman/ Turkish style. How to Get By Road This village can be reached by following the Ankara highway east from Bursa for 10 km and then continuing 3 km south toward the slopes of Uludağ. The city buses and minibuses leaving from the central bus station in Bursa arrive in Cumalıkızık in about half an hour. Don’t Leave Without Visiting Cumalıkızık houses. CASTLES BursaCastle: Bursa Castle was in existence as early as the 1st century BC. Today the city walls are about 2 km long. There are two towers between Çakırhamam and Tophane, one of them round the other square. On the road leading to Tophane is the Castle Gate. There is a natural wall at the site of Topane, Tümen and the Art Institute all the way to Yıldız Kahve, in front of which is the Thermal Gate (Kaplıca). The wall continues from here to Dungeon Gate (Zindan). There are the remains of a prison here on either side of the wall. The best-preserved section of the wall is from this gate to Üftade. On the flat area from Pınarbaşı to Cilimboz brook, there is a double wall. In front of Pınarbaşı is the fourth city gate Spring Gate (Pınarbaşı). The fifth gate, Yer Gate, is at Üftade. The cave found under the walls is 79 m long, 5 m wide and 4 m high. Yer Kapı: This gate is one of the city gates of Bursa and is located beside Üftade Mosque. İznikCastle: The castle dates back to 258 BC. There are 4 gates in the castle: İstanbul, Yenişehir, Lefke and Göl, respectively. In addition to these, there are 12 secondary entrances. To strengthen the 4970 m long and 10-13 m tall walls, 114 towers were built along them. The old towers are round while the newer ones are square. There are also another 131 towers along the defensive line in front of the castle walls. The walls of Iznik have been often repaired with much of the rubble from the old city being used for this task. In the Byzantine era, in the strengthening of the walls against the Arab invaders a variety of materials were used. The reliefs on the Istanbul and Lefke Gates depict a battle of the 3rd century BC. Lefke Gate: İznik’s eastern gate, it was built for Hadrian in the 2nd century. The gate is actually composed of 3 gates within one another. İstanbul Gate: Built during the reign of the Roman emperor Vespasianus in the 3rd century AD, it has 3 gates side by side. Yenişehir Gate: This is the city’s southern gate. It was built between 270-288 AD during the reign of Claudius. Today much of it is in ruins. RELIGIOUSMONUMENTS AND TOMBS Yeşil Mosque ( Bursa), Yeşil (Çelebi Sultan Mehmet) Tomb, Ulu Mosque (Cami Kebir), Muradiye (Murat II) Mosque and the Muradiye Medresesi, Emir Sultan Mosque and Tomb, Yıldırım Mosque, Yıldırım Tomb, Yıldırım Complex, Yeşil Complex, the Tomb of Osman Gazi, the Tomb of Orhan Gazi, Muradiye (Murat II) Mosque, the Tomb of Hatuniye, the Tomb of Şehzade Mahmut, the Tomb of Şehzade Mustafa (Mustafa Cedid), the Tomb of Şehzade Mustafa (Ahmet) (Cem Sultan), The Tomb of Mükrime Hatun, the Tomb of Ara Mustafa Paşa, the Tomb of Hamzabey and the Orhan Bey Mosque. Bursa Mosques and Tombs Ulu Mosque (Center): It was constructed between 1396 and 1400 by Yıldırım Bayezit, fully made up of cut stone, with very thick and high walls, 12 heavy four edged grade, with pendantives as of 20 domes. It is the most classical and monumental sample of the multi – domed mosques. It has the biggest size (318 square meters) among all of the Turkish mosques with its rich and roomy space. Its balcony with small tenon panels, finely processed with Greek and palmettes, parapet networks with geometrical samples, inscription on its front side and networked corolla is a master piece of art of transition from Seljuk style to Ottoman style. According to the rumor related with the construction of şadırvan; some lands should have been nationalized for construction of Ulu Mosque. Şadırvan’s place belonged to a Jewish woman. This woman who did not want to give her land had seen in her dream one night that everybody was running to the same direction. She curiously asked them where they were going, and took the respond of “Heaven!”. She also wanted to run but they stopped her, as she was not giving her land. Jewish woman who had impressed much from this dream, had gave her land next day on condition that they would build a şadırvan. When the construction process of the mosque discontinue due to financial problems, Christian and Jewish communities supplied a certain amount of money, then in return Muslims used the stones on which David’s Star and Cross signs are engraved on the windows of the mosque to show their gratitude. Emir Sultan Mosque and Tomb (Center): A famous scientist, Emir Sultan had come to Bursa in 1391, and had married with the daughter of Yıldırım Bayezit, Hundi Fatma Hatun. Emir Sultan Mosque and tomb was cosntructed by his wife during Murat II period. It is on a hill east of Bursa, adjacent to Emir Sultan Graveyard. There is a tomb with eight edges near to them on the north direction. Today’s shape of Emir Sultan Mosque, a beautiful sample of mosque type with single dome in a courtyard with a şadırvan, was constructed in 1804 during Sultan Selim III period. Muradiye Kulliye (Center): It is within a huge park in Muradiye district. Kulliye, which was constructed by Sultan Murat II between 1424 and 1426, composed of a mosque, theology school, charitable establishment, hamam and 12 tombs. The mosque has an angular shape which was used too much during the primary period in Ottoman architecture. Its niches and balconies are from 18th century, and it is of Baroque style. Its entrance door is one of the most beautiful samples of wood work. There are 12 pieces of tombs within Muradiye Kulliye, which are constructed in the name of Murat II and his family. Orhan Mosque and Kulliye (Center): Kulliye, which is constructed by Orhan Bey between 1339 and 1340, is composed of mosque, theology school, charitable establishment, school, hamam and inn (Emir Inn) structures. It is on the east part of Ulu Mosque, and one of the first samples of Ottoman Kulliye. Orhan Mosque is one of the most important structures of early Ottoman period in Bursa. Twin arches at both sides are one of the most important characteristics of the structure. It was constructed with two rows of bricks and one row of stone. Brick work on its external surface is also very interesting. Hüdavendigar Mosque and Kulliye (Center): Kulliye which was constructed by Sultan Murat I (Hüdavendigar) between 1366 and 1385 in Çekirge district, is composed of a mosque, theology school, charitable establishment, tomb and hamam. Unique in Ottoman architecture, the two storied complex’s first floor is a mosque while the second floor is a theology school. Architecture of the structure, which has an appearance of a palace with its imposing external minaret, is not certain. Two layered forehead with upper layer porticos, opened with double steep arches with middle column aside and front, is gaining an imposing panorama reminding the Venetian palaces. Şadırvan under the dome, whose middle part is open, creates a harmonious atmosphere with gentle splashes. Oposite to Hüdavendigar Mosque, there is the tomb of the Sultan Murat II (Hüdavendigar) , who died during military service in 1389 in Cassava War I . The epitaph of the tomb constructed by Yıldırım Bayezid is dated 1722. Yıldırım Bayazıt Kulliye (Center): The complex constructed between 1390 and 1399 in Yıldırım district at the east of the city is composed of a mosque, theology school, darüşşifa (cure house), tomb, inn, hamam, charitable establishment, pleasure – house, kitchen, service rooms and stable structures. The mosque at the middle of the kulliye is one of the most monumental example of the sided mosques, and it has a cure house dated 1399. Ottoman architecture had started to find a unique building structure style with this mosque. Tomb which is the single structure with its inscription is on the north east of the mosque. The tomb which was constructed to Mimar Ali bin Hüseyin by Yıldırım Bayezit’s son Süleyman Han in 1406, is the first sample of Ottoman tombs with portico. Yeşil Mosque (Center): Adornments of the mosque, which is constructed by Çelebi Sultan Mehmet between 1419 and 1420, was constructed in 1424 during Murat II period. It is also known as Yeşil Mosque due to the green turquoise and tiles used on adornments. Its architect is Hacı İvaz Paşa. It is one of the most important Ottoman period structure in Bursa, and the mosque is famous with its adornments much more than its architecture. Tile adornments are the most important characteristics of the mosque. Yeşil Tomb (Center): Structure, which is the symbol of Bursa, is one of the most beautiful samples of Ottoman tomb architecture. Octagonal structure, to which you can climb via a marble stair, is covered by a lead dome perched on a high hoop. It is a unique structure with its tile adornments. Its fully tile covered balcony is a master piece of art. One of the most beautiful samples of the Ottoman wooden work,the door was built by transition technique of walnut tree, adorned with geometrical motifs and has inscription on it. Geruş synagogue (Center): It i located at Arap Şükrü Street. It was constructed by the first Jewish group who settled in Bursa after they had been expeled from Spain in XIVth century and welcomed by Ottoman Emperor Selim II. and brought to the region. The name of the synagogue that was derived from a word in the Hebrew language Geruş meaning “expelled” has a special sense from that point of view. The synagogue reaching to our times in a god condition is in service of the Jewish community. Mayor Synagogue (Center): It is located at Arap Şükrü Street. It was constructed by the other Jewish communities welcomed by the Ottoman Empire and migrated from the Mayorka Island, Spain and settled in Bursa in XVth century. Moreover as they inspired from the name of the island they had departed, they gave the name Mayor to the synagogue that they constructed. The inital date of the construction is known to be XVth century. Vivid designs on the walls and the ceiling of the interior section of the synagogue draw attention. Etz Ahayım Synagogue (Center): Located at Arap Şükrü Street and constructed in the beginnings of XIVth century, the name of the synagogue means “Life Tree” in the Hebrew Language. It is peculiar in that it is the first synagogue to be constructed during Ottoman period. An imperial decree was announced during the reign of Orhan Bey, conqueror of Bursa, and the structure of the synagogue was approved. İznik Green Mosque (İznik): The mosque, which is the most important monumental structure of Ottoman architecture in İznik, is at the east of province and near to the Lefke Gate. It is constructed by Çandarlı Hayrettin Paşa on 1378 – 1398. Hacı Özbek Mosque (Bazaar Mosque, İznik): It is within bazaar in İznik. It is constructed on 1333, and is the oldest inscription having Ottoman mosque. AyasofyaMuseum (İznik): It is at the middle of the city, and constructed on IV. Century Byzantium church, and turned into a mosque during Orhan Gazi.The museum is where the 7th Ecumenic Council of high esteem for Christians was arranged.It is a collapsed structure today. Senatus (ConsulePalace, İznik): Senatus, which is the first Consul meeting performed, which is deemed as very important by Christians, is also named as Consul palace. Ruinsof the piece of art which is at lake gate side, are below the lake waters. Churches and Synagogues Bursa is one of the provinces which has been the cradle of a number of civilizations and religious from the pre-Christian era to the present. There are many Christian, Jewish and Muslim structures still standing and now under government protection. Of the 17 church councils so important for the Christian faith convened between 324 and 1563, eight of them were held in Turkey and the 1st and 7th were held in Iznik. Iznik is one of 8 different pilgrimage points in Turkey and the most important. Geruş Synagogue: Selim II had the synagogue built at the beginning of the 16th century. It is located on Arap Şükrü Street. The Jews exiled from Spain at the end of the 14th century and were put on galleons sent by the Ottoman Empire and given refuge. The first groups were settled in Bursa and this synagogue was built for them. The fact that this synagogue was called Gerush, which means ‘driven away’ in Hebrew, is very symbolic of their suffering. The Geruş Synagogue is still in excellent shape today. It is well-maintained and open for worshippers. The medallions found on either side of the Ehal Akodesh cabinet, where the Torah is kept, have Hebraic inscriptions recording the construction date and the name of the master builder. There is no other inscription showing any other details of construction. Ets Ahayim Synagogue: (The Tree of Life) It is a significant synagogue in that it is the first one built during the Ottoman period. A imperial edict made during the reign of Orhan Bey, the conqueror of Bursa, gave permission for the establishment of this synagogue. Mayor Synagogue: The groups of Jews from the Spanish island of Mallorca who were offered refuge by the Ottoman Empire were settled in Bursa and built this synagogue. The name is derived from the name of the island from which they had come. The synagogue is presently open for events and the section reserved for the washing of the dead is still being used. The FrenchChurch: Built of stone, the pulpit and mihrab are in separate small rooms. The church is covered with a roof of wood and clay tiles. There was a recovery room for the sick here. It is thought to have been built in the 19th century. H. GeorgiosChurch: (Gölyazı) Built in the second half of the 19th century, the church is a rectangle whose walls are built using alternating layers of brick and rubble. Part of the original wood structure remains. The Church of Harmanlı Village: (Karacabey) Started in 1833, the building was not finished until 1903. Today the roof of the church is gone and many of the walls have fallen down. İznikChurch: (İznik) A rectangular church most likely built in the 7th century. There are 9 different sections in the church. The walls are made of stone and brick and the vaults in the ceiling are brick. Koımesıs Tes Theotokos: (İznik) Koimesis means the ‘Death of Mary.’ The church is believed to have been built in the 8th century and gets its name from the frescoes portraying the death of Mary. The church was completely destroyed in 1922. Only the marble foundations remain. The Church of St. Tryphonos: (İznik) Built by the edict of Emperor T. Laskaris in the 8th century, it has a rectangular design with four supports in the shape of a Greek cross. The walls are built using the alternating technique, in which one layer of rubble is covered with two to four layers of brick. The column and column heading are marble. The Church of Karakoca Village: (Karacabey) The church was built in 1847 in honor of Zoodochos Pege. Today little more than a ruin, the top level has completely fallen in. Koımesıs Tes Theotokos: (Demirtaş) Built in 1834 and converted to a mosque in 1924, the church is a basilica. The walls are made of brick and rubble. The Church of H. Konstantınos: (Helena) (Gölyazı) Found on the Manastir Island in Lake Uluabat, the church was built in the 4th and 5th centuries. The walls of this Greek – cross type church are made of 5 levels of brick alternating with a level of rough cut stone. The Church of Kumyaka: (Mudanya) Built between 780-797 AD during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Konstantinos Porphyrogenetos IV, the church is a square with a large dome in the middle and 4 vaulted sides forming the shape of a cross . The walls are made of brick and stone and the roof is tile. The Church of Michael Taxiarches: (Demirtaş) The church was built in the 19th century and turned into a mosque in 1948. It is a rectangular structure with a wooden ceiling. The inner walls made of rubble were taken out. The Church of Mudanya: (Mudanya) Built in 1834, the church is rectangular in shape. On the eastern side of the church there is a half-circle apse. The walls made of cut stone are covered in places with marble. The Church of Theodoros: (Çalı) Two parts of this Byzantine structure remain here. One is the remains of a wall of a city of antiquity upon which a village was later constructed. The other is The Church of St. Theodoros. Little is known about this church. Yıldırım Medresesi: (Religious School) Northwest of the Yıldırım Mosque, it was built by Bayezit in 1399. Entering from the door, one sees a domed porch with 3 sides. There are 8 vaulted rooms leading into the porches from the right and the left. There are rooms for the teachers (hoca) on both sides of the entrances. The side porches are connected to vaulted classrooms. After being restored the school was used as a dispensary. INNS Emir (Bey) Han: Directly underneath the Ulu Mosque, it was built in the second half of the 14th century by Orhan Bey. In the middle of the han is a fountain used in the ritual absolutions and some very old sycamore trees. Eski Yeni (Tahıl) Han: Located on Cumhuriyet Boulevard, it was built by one of Kanuni’s grand viziers, Semiz Alizade. Geyve (Hacı İvaz-Payigah ) Han: Located beside the Demirkapı Market, this han was built in the 15th century by Ahi Bayezid’s son Hacı İvaz Paşa and given as a gift to Çelebi Mehmet. It was built to provide income for the Green (Yeşil) Mosque. İpek (Silk) Han (Arabacılar): Next to the İvaz Paşa Mosque, it was built by Çelebi Mehmet as a source of income for the Yeşil Complex. It is the biggest han in Bursa. What started out as the congregating place of the silk tradesmen eventually becoming the gathering place of the carriage drivers. Koza Han: Situated between the Ulu Mosque and Orhan Mosque, this han was built in 1490 by Bayezid II as a source of income for charities in Istanbul. It is the most beautiful han in Bursa and the most frequented. In the middle of the court there is a small mosque made of stone set on 8 pillars with a fountain for ritual cleansing underneath. Pirinç Han: Sultan Bayezid II built it in 1508 as a means of providing income for charity foundations in Istanbul. There is an ancient sycamore tree in the courtyard. BATHS Yeşil Baths: The bath, found beside the Yeşil Tomb, were built in during the reign of Fatih by Türbedar Köse Ali Paşa (Sofu Bedrettin) for the purpose of providing income for the school. Yıldırım Baths: Located beside the Yıldırım Mosque, these baths were built in 1390 by Sultan Bayezid. Emir Sultan Baths: Situated beside the Emir Sultan Mosque, the baths were built in 1426 by Emir Sultan’s wife Hundi Sultan. Muradiye Baths: Situated outside of the gardens of the Muradiye Mosque, the baths were built in 1426 by Sultan Murat II. PRESERVED AREAS NATIONAL PARKS Bursa – UludagNational Park Location: Uludag is 30km southeast of Bursa. Transportation: A cable car makes the journey up to Uludag from Bursa to the Sarilan Plain, which takes around 20 minutes, and then a dolmus to the hotel area of the park. The mountain road, 34km from Bursa, is open throughout the year. There is also a private helicopter service from Istanbul which takes 25 minutes. Highlights: Uludag (Great Mountain) is 2543m high, making it the highest point in the Marmara region, and the Aras Waterfalls and glaciers at the peak are its most interesting geographical features. The steep slopes mean that plant life varies widely between the Bursa plane and the peak, something which has been analised by botanical scientists and has made Uludag prominent around the world in this type of research. The suitable conditions have also formed a habitat for many species of animal and bird life, like bears, wolves, jackals, foxes, roe deer, rabbits, pigs, partridges, wild pigeons, vultures, eagles, black kites, nightingales and goldcrests. The Bakacak watchtower at Cobankaya gives a great view over the surrounding area. Between December and May, Uludag is covered with snow sometimes up to 4m deep, making it suitable for skiing, and it is one of the most popular winter sports centres in Turkey. Facilities: Inside the park, Oteller Bolgesi (Hotel Area) has a good range of accommodation, and facilities for those wishing to ski. Camping is possible in the regions of Sarialan, Cobankaya and Kirazliyayla, and there are also tourist bungalows and huts. ORNITHOLOGY AREAS İznik Lake Bird Area, Uludağ Bird Area, Ulubat Gölü Bird Area and Kocaçay Delta are in Bursa. MarmaraBasin İznikLake City: Bursa Provinces: Orhangazi, İznik Surface Area : 29830 Altitude: 87 m Protection: Yes Bird Species: It complies with the criteria of important bird areas with küçük karabatak (30 pairs) and gece balıkçıl (250 pairs). Main Characteristics: sweet water lake Kocaçay Delta Uludağ City: Bursa Provinces : Yıldırım, Osmangazi, Keles, İnegöl, Kestel Surface Area : 20000 Altitude : 1250 – 2543 m Protection: Partial Bird Species: Sakallı Akbaba (2 pairs) and kaya kartalı (2 pairs), are the species which are gaining the area important bird are status. Main Characteristics: forest, mountain UluabatLake City: Bursa Provinces: Nilüfer, Karacabey, Mustafakemalpaşa Surface Area : 13500 Altitude : 1250 – 2543 m Protection: N/A Bird Species: It is an important reproduction area for küçük karabatak (300 pairs), alaca balıkçıl (30 pairs) and kaşıkçı (75 pairs). There are huge numbers of water birds, which includes küçük karabatak (max. 1078), tepeli pelikan (max. 136), elmabaş patka (max. 42500), tepeli patka (maks13.600) and sakarmeke (maks321.550) within the area during winter. 429.423 water birds, which are counted in the are during January, 1996, is the highest water bird number, registered within Turkey since 1970. Main Characteristics: sweet water lake, swamp Kocaçay Delta City: Bursa Provinces: Karacabey Surface Area : 4200 Altitude: Sea level Protection: N/A Bird Species: It gains an important bird area status with kara leylek (10 pairs), pasbaş patka(70 pairs), bataklık kırlangıcı (80 pairs) and akça cılıbıt’s (60 pairs) reproducing populations. During immigration there are important numbers of küçük karabatak (max. 150) and ak pelikan (max. 800), and sakarmeke (max. 46291) during winter. Main Characteristics: sweet water lake, alluvial forest THERMAL RESORTS Vakıfbahçe (Çekirge) Thermal Springs: In the Çekirge neighborhood of Bursa, it is used by all the hotels in Çekirge, as well as the Military Hospital and the Çelik Palas. The bitter alkaline bicarbonate waters of this hot spring are used in bathing treatments for rheumatism, aching muscles, blood clots, diabetes, gout and disorders of the metabolic system. When drunk, it is good for liver and gall bladder conditions. Bademli Bahçe Thermal Springs: Between the center of Bursa and the neighborhood of Çekirge. There are 7 springs here. The Kükürtlü Hotel and the baths at Yeni Kaplıca, Kaynarca and Karamustafapaşa are connected to these springs. The water are sulphurous and radioactive. Bathing and drinking treatments have the same effects as was described above for the Vakıfbahçe springs. In addition the sulphurous waters are good for chronic infections and peripheral circulation. Dümbüldek Thermal Springs: Located in the village of Akarca 19 km from Mustafakemalpaşa, it has hotels and baths operated by the local municipality. The bath treatments are good for aches and pains and because it helps peripheral circulation it reduces wrinkling and is good for the appearance of the skin. When drunk, it is effective in treating liver, stomach, intestine, pancreas and gall bladder disorders. Gemlik (Terme) Thermal Springs: On the Umurbey road south of Gemlik, it has a 68-bed hotel, a restaurant and a pool. The spring waters are good for rheumatism, nephritis, mental fatigue and cardiovascular conditions. Armutlu Thermal Springs: In the district of Gemlik 4 km north of Armutlu Bucağı, it is situated in a valley of forest and scrub trees and there are a number of springs along the creek bed, the most important of which are the springs of Küpeli and Hamam. There is a 72-bed tourist hotel with a restaurant that seats 90 as well as a Turkish Bath. Permission has been granted for the building of a 3 star hotel with 108 beds at the site. The hot springs treatments include bathing, drinking and mud baths and are good for rheumatism, gout, nephritis, skin conditions and gynecological disorders. Bursa Thermal Springs Oylat Thermal Resort Location: 27km south of Inegol, southwest of Bursa. Transport: The resort is off the highway between Inegol and Tavsanli. The nearest airport at Yenisehir, near Bursa. Water temperature: Oylat Hamami Spring – 40°C. Sizi Suyu Spring – 35.5°C. Goz Suyu Spring – 10°C. pH value: Oylat Hamam Spring – 7.26. Sizi Suyu Spring – 7.18. Goz Suyu Spring – 7.04. Physical and chemical properties: The various springs contain some, or all of the following: Sulphur, bicarbonate, calcium, ionic hydrogen and iron. Recommended Applications: Drinking and bathing Helps to heal: Drinking – diuretic and good for obesity. Bathing – relaxing sedative. Accommodation: Buyuk Hotel – 220 beds. Motel – 210 beds. Çekirge Thermal Resort Location: In the Cekirge area of Bursa, on the eastern side of the city. Water temperature: Vakifbahce Spring – 47°C. Karamustafa Spring – 58°C. Kaynarca and Yenikaplica Springs – 77°C. Kukurtlu Hamam Spring – 78°C pH value: Vakifbahce Spring – 6.98. Karamustafa Spring – 6.6. Kaynarca and Yenikaplica Springs – 6.78. Kukurtlu Hamam Spring – 6.44 Physical and chemical properties: The group of springs contain some, or all of the following: hyperthermal, hypertonic, oligometallic and radioactive, bicarbonate, sulphur, calcium, magnesium, sodium and carbon dioxide. Recommended: Applications Drinking and bathing Helps to heal: Rheumatic ailments, painful disorders of muscular system, chronic gynaecological infections and cramps, blood clots and bronchitis. Combination of bathing and drinking for liver and gall bladder condition, mild gout and diabetes, and obesity. Accommodation: Anatolia Hotel – 192 beds. Buyuk Yildiz Hotel – 68 Beds. Hotel Kervansaray – 500 beds. Armutlu Thermal Resort Location: 2km north of Armutlu, which is around 20km west of Yalova. Transportation: Accessible from Bursa, Yalova and Istanbul by road, sea and air. Water temperature: 57°C pH value: 6.2 – 6.5 Physical and chemical properties: Sulphur, bicarbonate, chlorine, calcium, sodium and carbon dioxide. Recommended: Applications Drinking and bathing Helps to heal: Rheumatism, cardiovascular conditions, gynaecological disorders, mental and muscular fatigue, nervous and eating disorders. Accommodation: 2-star hotel. WATERFALLS Saitabat Waterfall: This waterfall 3 km from the village of Derekızık falls from a canyon. This recreational spot with its restaurants offering grilled food of all kinds is frequented by the residents of Bursa. Suuçtu Waterfall: Situated 18 km from Mustafakemalpaşa, the Suuçtu Waterfall is in the middle of a natural paradise and the roar of the water falling 38 meters is very pleasant. The creeks of Karadere and Kavaklıyayla begin high up on Çataldağ Mt. and then come together here to form the waterfall. This is also the water source for the town of Mustafakemalpaşa and 15 of the neighboring villages. Aras Waterfall: If you take the Uludağ road from Bursa and turn onto the asphalt road that leads through the forest when you come to the entrance of the National Park, you will come to the village of Soğukpınar at an elevation of 1000 m. The 30 km from Bursa to Soğukpınar is asphalt but the 5 km to the Ketenlik Highland is gravel. From the highland village of Ketenlik take the marked trekking trail north and you will find the Aras Brook and Waterfall in a rocky area full of the water from the melting snow of Uludağ and falling from a height of 15 meters. The elevation here is 1700 meters. CAVES OF BURSA AyvainiCave Location: Bursa The cave is located inside the borders of Ayva village of Bursa. Properties: Except entrance section, the cave is horizontally developed. There are two entrances to the cave. Entering the cave from one point (Doğanalanı) and leaving the cave from another is possible. Just at the entrance of the cave, there is a vertical downward descend of 17 meters. are shallow enough to pass. OylatCave Location: Bursa, İnegöl District, Hilmiye Village The cave is located at one kilometer south of Hamiliye village which is 17 km. away from the road branching for Oylat Thermal Spring Resort from Bursa-Ankara highway. Properties: The total length of the cave is 665 meters and is composed of two main sections. The first section is formed from narrow galleries and is the section starting from the entrance to the end of the debris. There are cauldrons and damlataş pools inside the cave. The second section is the big debris saloon. This section of the cave is composed of large blocks and giant damlataş shapes. (stalactite, stalagmite and pillars) The front side of the cave has the temperature of 29ºC , humidity of 47 percent, the entrance has the temperature of 19ºC, humidity of 55 percent, at the narrow gallery the temperature of 17ºC, humidity of 78 percent and at the debris saloons the temperature of 14ºC and humidity of 90 percent. BEACHES There are broad natural beaches along the Marmara Sea 135 km away in Karacabey, Mudanya and Gemlik and excellent beaches on the two lakes in the province: Lake Iznik and Lake Uluabat (Apolyont). There is a long beach from Yeniköy around Bayramdere (Malkara) to Zeytinbağ near Mudanya. The sand on the beaches of Kurşunlu, Bayramdere and at Mesudiye, Eğerce and Esence is excellent. SPORTING ACTIVITIES Ski Resorts UludağSkiCenter BURSA – Uludağ Uludag, 36km south of Bursa, is one of the country’s favourite winter sports centres and as well as skiing, its richness of flora and fauna has made it into a National Park and summer activities like trekking and camping are also popular. Uludag was previously known as Olympos Misios in ancient times, and is known in mythology as the place where the gods watched the Trojan war. Plans have been confirmed for a development project, which will offer a huge increase in accommodation and skiing facilities. Its geographical conditions mean that Uludag Ski Resort can also offer heli-skiing, snow boarding, ice-skating and snow biking. Arrival: Uludag National Park can be reached both by highway and cable car. The Ski resort is 40 minutes away from Bursa by road and 60 minutes from the airport. By private vehicle, the Cekirge road is the easiest. Drivers must keep wheel chains, wedges and heavy ropes during winter, which are available for hire or sale along the roadside. There are also minibuses going to the top of Uludag which leave every hour during the winter, and takes around 90 minutes from Bursa. There are four sections of the cable-car route to reach Uludag, two between Bursa and Kadi plateau (1235m) and two between Kadi and Sari Alan (1621m). Each line has a cabin that can fit 30 people, although it is prohibited to carry ski equipment, and depart the district of Teleferik every 20 minutes. The journey, which stops at Kadi and then changes car, takes around 25 minutes. From the Sari Alan, there is a minibus service travelling the last 7km to the hotel area. In the summer season, there is a chairlift from Sari Alan to Coban Kaya (1750m) Geography: Uludag is the highest mountain in Western Anatolia, with its peak at Kara Tepe (2543m). It is covered in forests, and the region has a partially temperate climate with a dominant wind direction of south-west/south. The altitude of the skiing area is between 1750 – 2543m, and the best season is from late December to late March. The snow at the beginning of the season is powdery, getting increasingly slushy towards the end. Facilities: There are 27 hotels, 15 of which are privately owned, with a total of over 3000 beds. The area also has shopping halls, restaurants, cafes and bars, entertainment and health centres. Ski equipment, rental and instructors are all available here. There are eight chair-lifts, seven T-bars and 13 different ski runs. Hunting Bursa is an excellent hunting area rich in wild game. There are 4 important bird hunting areas: Uludağ, Lake İznik, Lake Uluabat and Kocaçay Delta. Trekking For nature walks there are 6 excellent designated hiking courses in Uludağ open summer and winter. * Oteller Region-Cennet Kaya Course: With an elevation of 1865 meters at the starting point, with the Gemlik Bay on the north and a view of the mountain villages on the south, it is a nature hike of exquisite beauty. The course is 2000 meters long. * Oteller Region-Sarıalan-Çobankaya Course: With a starting point at 1850 meters and an elevation of 1750 meters at the end, the course winds through a magnificent forest of splashing streams. The course is 5200 meters. * Oteller Region-Softaboğan Waterfall Course: Starting at 1800 meters, this forested course down the terraced slopes of Uludağ is accompanied by a brook and pond which ends in a waterfall. The sound of rushing water and incredible views escort you down until you look out on a gorgeous panoramic view of the Bursa Plain. The course is 6000 meters long. * Oteller Region-Hanlar Region-Bağlı Village Course: The descent from1865 meter peak down through the mountain villages gives the visitor a chance to experience the extraordinary hospitality of the Anatolian people. It is a distance of 7500 meters. * Oteller Region-Zirve Hill Course: On the climb up to the 2487 meter peak, the visitor comes face to face with the incredible natural beauty of Uludağ with lush vegetation on one side and a panoramic view of the sea and the Apollon lakes on the other. The course is a total of 7615 meters. * Wolfram-Madenler Region- Lake Region Course: At an elevation of 2300 meters you will experience the privilege of observing butterfly species and wild flowers only found around Uludağ. The glacial lakes (Kara Göl, Aynalı Göl, Kilimli Göl, Buzlu Göl) up here create a superb atmosphere. The course is 9800 meters. Youth Tourism In the district of Gemlik are the Youth and Scouting Camps of Hasanağa and Kırcaali which are run by the Provincial Sports Administration. They each of 175 beds and in the summer offer camping opportunities to young people from around the country who can choose to stay here during one of the four 10-day session. In addition, the Gölcük Camping Grounds inside Uludağ National Park have camping activities for students and scouts. The shores of Lake Iznik and Uluabat also make good camping areas. There are sailing, swimming, surfing and camping classes open to people of all nationalities. BursaForest Camps Sarıalan Forest Camp Location: Uludag National Park Facilities: Bathrooms, toilets, showers, food stand, water, electricity. Electricity for motor home and tents: Charged per amount used. Open: 1 June-01 September Tel: (0224) 211 12 35 – 211 42 86 Fax: (0224) 211 22 30 Çobankaya Forest Camp Location: Uludag National Park Facilities: Children’s playground, bathrooms, toilets, showers, food stand, water and electricity. Open: 1 June-01 September Tel: (0224) 211 12 35 / 211 42 86 Fax: (0224) 211 22 30 Geography It has a typical Marmara climate; hot summers with some rain and mild to cool winters. History The history of the region goes all the way back to the Chalolithic era (5000-3500 BC). Archeological investigations in the area have uncovered remains dating back to this period. Besides copper, the distinctive material of the Chalolithic age, items made of stone, flint and bone have also been found. The Bithynians had a number of settlements on the slopes of Olympos (Uludağ) in antiquity. The foundations of the city of Prusa were laid by the Bithynian King Zipotes in the 3rd century BC and it was made the seat of administration during the reign of Prusias I between 230-180 BC. In the 12th century BC the Trallians a Phrygian tribe moved into the area. The Roman era begins here with the bequest of the kingdom to Rome by King Nikomedes IV upon his death. After the Roman empire was divided into two in 395 AD, it came under the rule of the Byzantines. Where to Eat Visitors to Bursa must try the local specialties: İskender Kebabı, İnegöl Köftesi and Kemalpaşa Dessert and don’t forget the Chestnut Candies that have become synonymous with the city of Bursa. Where to Buy The world famous silk weavings of Bursa and their famous towels offer excellent opportunities to purchase a quality souvenir or gift item. Don’t Leave Without – Seeing Cumalıkısık – Skiing on Mt. Uludağ – Visiting the mosque complexes – Stopping in at one of the thermal springs – Trying some of the delicious İskender kebabı, Kemalpaşa dessert and chestnut candy – Purchasing some of the silk of Bursa

Tamerlane and the Ottoman Defeat at the Battle of Ankara

Tamerlane and the Ottoman Defeat at the Battle of Ankara

Mongol ruler Tamerlane (Timur) The Significance of the Battle of Ankara

The Battle of Ankara in 1402 halted the Ottoman advance into Europe and improved the bleak prospects for the Byzantine Empire. The fall of Constantinople to the enemies of Christendom seemed almost certain until unexpected catastrophe for the Turks occurred on the plains of Anatolia. The defeat of Sultan Bayezid the…

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WHAT HAPPENED TO COUNTESS MARIA OF SALONA?

Maria Fadrique was born around 1370, the daughter of the last Catalan Count of Salona, Don Louis Fadrique, and his Greek wife, Princess Helena Fadrique, also known as Helena Kantakouzene or The Despina, Helena Asenina.

Not much information about her early childhood has been preserved. We do know that she grew up as an only child to the noble couple and was likely prepared and claimed as the only heir to the County of Salona.

In 1382, at the age of 12, she lost her father and became the Countess of Salona in her own right. However, due to her age, she was deemed too young to manage the county, so her mother, the Dowager Countess Helena Fadrique, took charge as regent. That same year, she was betrothed to Bernat Hug, a son of Felip Dalmau, but the betrothal was annulled.

Despite reaching the age of maturity in 1386, at 16, an age when she was now deemed fully capable of managing the County of Salona, her mother remained in power over all state affairs, and Maria had yet to step a toe into the world of politics. That same year, her mother betrothed her to a son of the Serbian Emperor Symeon Uros for political reasons, but this betrothal, like the first one was annulled. That same year, she was betrothed to an alienated associate of the King of Aragon, but the wedding never took place.

From the years of 1388-1391, Helena refused to repay damages to a Venetian citizen who suffered the loss of property aboard a ship from Ancona by her late husband, Don Luis Fadrique, in 1380. This made her mother very unpopular with Venice.

Her mother was quite hated by the people, who most likely would have preferred Maria to take charge over state affairs, but this never happened. Even at the age of 20, Maria had not taken charge over state affairs. This decision to keep the Dowager Countess in charge would eventually cause their deaths.

Though Necdet Sakaoğlu in his work “Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları” claims she was betrothed to Manuel II in 1393, I have not seen another source to confirm this claim.

In this same work, Sakaoğlu tells the story of the capture of Maria and her mother in late 1393 or early 1394. “Turkish soldiers captured the Frankish ship that was bringing Maria to Istanbul in the Dardanelles and captured its occupants.” - Necdet Sakaoğlu, “Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları,” pg 88.

Upon meeting the beautiful and affianced Countess, Sultan Yildirim Bayezid Han was smitten with her, and both the mother and the daughter were brought to his harem in Edirne, and Maria became his concubine.

That same year in 1394, Helena died, but it is not clear if it was due to an execution or other reasons. According to Laonikos Chalkokondyles, the Countess Helena disgraced herself and brought shame upon the people of "Delphi" by committing her authority into the hands of her lover, a priest called Strateus, for which reason the Archbishop of Larissa denounced her to the Basileus (Sultan) and gave him the pretext for taking over the County of Salona. - The Byzantine Family of Kantakouzenos (Cantacuzenus) Ca. 1100-1460: A Genealogical and Prosopographical, pg 161.

As for Maria, she was executed a year later in 1395 after Bayezid found her unworthy of him, and eventually lost interest in her. However, this reason seems highly improbable.

When Bayezid lost interest in her, he wouldn’t have executed her but instead discarded her or even sent her away to the old palace in Bursa. The reason for her execution must be something else, either she was executed for political reasons or she went against the rules or even committed a crime. Nonetheless, it is highly unlikely for a Sultan to execute a concubine because he lost interest in her.

( Sources: The Byzantine Family of Kantakouzenos (Cantacuzenus) Ca. 1100-1460: A Genealogical and Prosopographical, Necdet Sakaoğlu, “Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları".)

LAZAREVIC SISTERS II

Princess Dragana Lazarevic 

Early Life

She was born as the second out of five daughters of Lazar of Serbia with his wife; Milica. Her date of birth might be around the late-1350s or early-1360s. 

She is the namesaker of her paternal aunt; Dragana Hrebeljanović, the wife of a man named Musa.  She was likely born and raised in Prilepac with her eldest sister; Mara, before moving to Krusevac. 

Not much is recorded or known about her early or later life, but most people believe her to the second wife of Emperor Ivan Shishman. 

Marriage to…….. Shishman

A lot of Serbian sources are divided about the identidy of her husband, but he certainly was an imperial representative of the Shishman family, and they married around 1386. 

Though Nikola Giljen, mentions her as the wife of Emperor Ivan Shishman, this seems highly unlikely, as Ivan was executated in June 3rd of 1395, and later that year in September, Dragana’s mother; Milica (Now Nun Eugenia) met with the fraternal council of the St. Paptelejmona monastery to discuss financial support that should be given to her daughters in case of poverty in widowhood. 

Nowhere does it mention the recent widowhood of one of her daughters, it can then be concluded that she is not the second wife of Ivan Sishman, but instead the wife of his eldest son; Aleksander Shishman. 

The confusion of her husband’s identidy might be due to the fact that Ivan Shishman proclaimed his eldest son; Aleksander as co-ruler and so by their marriage right both Dragana and Ivan Shishman’s second wife were referred to as “Empress Consorts.”

Nonetheless, nothing is known about the relationship she shared with her husband. Like most royal marriages at the time, it had more to do with the union of two houses into a paternership than a privy love affair. 

As Turks

In 1393, Sultan Bayezid Han conquered Trpovo on July 17. Ivan and his family were captured, it does seems like Dragana was one of the family members who were captured. 

In 1395, Ivan Shishman was executed by order of Sultan Bayezid. In the meantime Aleksander converted to Islam (It is unknown if Dragana converted with him) and became Iskender. Bayezid showed mercy to his kin and put him in a position of power, Iskender became the governer of an area near the Black Sea and was now referred to as "Iskender Bey". 

Later Life 

Nothing is known about the later life of Dragana, after 1395 Serbian sources lost track of her.

Wether or not she outlived her husband is unknown, but if she did this might confirm that she did in fact convert to Islam along side her husband and became Turk, which is why she never returned home; to Serbia.

Issue

There are no known decsendants of either Iskender Bey or Dragana. 

( Sources: “КЋЕРИ КНЕЗА ЛАЗАРА ИСТОРИЈСКА СТУДИЈА ПОГОВОР” by Jelka Redep, Dve srpske sultanije : Olivera Lazarevic (1373-1444) : Mara Brankovic (1418-1487) by Nikola Giljen )

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

Depiction of Despina Hatun on one of the stained glass windows in placed on the north facade of St. George Cathedral in Novi Sad.

Created in 1902 by Hungarian artist Imre Zseller ( 1878-1959).

The stained glass depicts Despina Hatun holding a cross; showing her devotion to her faith. Something interesting and catching about her attire is that adding to her simple Serbian clothing she also has a golden turban adorned on her head; depicting her liaison to both the Lazarevic and Osman Dynasty.

( Source: Osmanlı Sarayı’nda Bir Sırp Prenses: Mileva Olivera Lazarevic by Mustafa Çağhan Keskin )

A DIVINE BEAUTY IN EDIRNE

"Laz Bey had a fortunate daughter whose beauty was like that of an immaculate houri of paradise, flawless and noble, free in her beauty like a tall cypress tree, distinguished among beauties as a fairy born." - Kemalpaşazâde.

With this poem of his time, Kemalpaşazâde draws attention and describe the beauty of Despina Hatun as divine-like grace to the world.

" Distinguished among beauties as fairy born." In this last part of the poem elevate the physical attributes of Despina Hatun as being unattainable even to those who are considered beautiful.

Gülçiçek Valide Hatun

One of the first enslaved imperial mothers to have a tomb dedicated to her; Gülçiçek Valide Hatun.

Same as her date of birth, her birth name is unknown though it is sometimes suggested to be Maria.

Though the year of her capture is not documented, nor how she ended up in the Ottoman imperial harem there is a legend about her person; that she was never a concubine but instead a wife of Murad I.

The tale goes as such...

Maria was the young noble Byzantine widow of Aclan Bey and the mother of Yakhsi Bey. She was captured in 1344 when Orhan Ghazi captured the principality of Karasi. After 15 years of widowhood, the troubled mother of Murad: Nilufer, who on her end suggested many suitors for her, all of whom she refused.

Eventually, Murad offered himself and she accepted, changing her name to Gülçiçek. - ( " The European Sultanas of The Ottoman Empire " by Anna Ivanova Buxton )

The tale seems highly improbable as the Ottoman rulers, do not have a strong history of marrying widows, especially ones who have been captured, and thus are considered slaves.

When looking at her name origin Gülçiçek means "rose blossom" in Turkish, meaning she was of slave origin and a convert.

The Gülçiçek in kinship with Aclan Bey and Yakhsi Bey is most likely different than the consort of Murad I, as the dates do not match.

Gülçiçek became Valide Hatun in 1389, after her son ascended the throne upon the death of his father; Murad, sometime after the battle of Kosovo. She will served as Valide Hatun from 1389 to 1400, upon her death.

Not much is known about her relationship with her sole child; Bayezid. The only thing I found and noticed is that she is not mentioned as one of the attendees of Bayezid's wedding to Devletşah Hatun in 1381. Instead, his unnamed governess was in attendance. - ( " Bu Mulkun Sultanari " by Necdet Sakaoglu, pg 54, narrated passage by Ashikpasazade )

An interesting point about the mosque in which she was buried is located in a Greek neighborhood in Bursa called the " Night Quarter ". This also indicates her Greek origin, and that she was still related or saw herself as a Greek woman which is why she was buried in this quarter; which had yet to be Islamized at the time. - ( Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları by Necdet Sakaoglu )

THE LIFE OF NEFISE HATUN

The one who is considered the first imperial princess to intervene in politics; Nefise Melek Hatun. She, who was given various honorific titles such as Sultan Hatun, and Mirhiali Hatun.

She was born as the daughter of Murad I, and sister of Bayezid I around 1355 and 1360 in Bursa. Not much is known about her early life, we do not have proven information about the identity of her mother.

The first time Nefise Hatun is noticed is during her political betrothal to Alaeddin Bey.

The wedding, which took place around 1377-1381 consisted of a large bride price of; 100 thousand coins, 100 horses, 10 balls of silk, Turkish velvet, gold jewelry, corals, diamonds, red rubies, turquoises, ten thousand camels and many more. - ( Necdet Sakaoğlu, Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları, pg 69)

Together the couple had three sons, though only two survived past infancy; Mehmed and Bengi Ali.

Even though the goal of this political marriage was to bring peace between the Ottomans and Karamans, it barely worked out. She first acted as a mediator between her father and husband in 1386. Upon learning that Alaeddin Bey was massacring Ottoman lands, Murad I went to Anatolia seeking his son-in-law, refusing to acknowledge Alaeddin's ambassadors he continued his march to Konya.

Alaeddin was hiding in the Konya fortress that was being besieged. Knowing he would not win he sent his wife; Nefise to seek peace from her father; Murad.

Nesri; who chose to narrate these events says as followed;

He ( Alaeddin) sent a message to her ( Nefise ) and said: - If you do not ask for me from your father, he will take Konya and destroy me. You should be kind to me and kiss the sultan's hand and beg for me. He said to forgive my sin. Sultan Hatun even came and fell at the feet of her father and begged."

The narration ends with Murad forgiving Aleaddin and the Karamans out of piety for his daughter; who obtained peace through loud cries.

The second time she acted as a mediator between her husband and the Ottomans was through her brother; Bayezid I. When Bayezid besieged Konya in 1390, Nefise once again acted in the defense of her husband and was able to obtain forgiveness for him and the people of Konya.

This unfortunately did not work a second time, for soon after the two battled in 1397, Alaeddin was captured and beheaded. Though it seems the command was not given by Bayezid himself, he felt enough piety to behead whoever it was who beheaded his brother-in-law but in the end, he saw this as an advantage to make the Karamans surrender to him by parading his brother-in-law's head around with a spear. ( Christian Slaves of the Ottoman Empire/ An analysis of the fifteenth-century - pg 67 )

Soon after, Nefise and her sons were sent to Bursa by Bayezid's command, but seemed to have been separated, as it is noted the Sultan assigned one of his lord to raise his nephews. ( Christian Slaves of the Ottoman Empire/ An analysis of the fifteenth-century - pg 67 )

Not much is known about her captivity in the old palace. It is possible she was given charge of the palace containing retired concubines, but then again she is described as a captive so there is no way to be certain.

After the plunder of Bursa in 1402 by the command of Timur, Nefise and her sons were taken to Kutahya to stay with some family members, and later on made their way back to the Kamaranid Principality where she would pass away around the year 1402 and 1403.

Despina Hatun In Fiction I

ZABINA

The earliest work of fiction, other than some verbal legends about the aftermath of the Battle of Ankara is " Tamburlaine the Great " by English dramatist; Christopher Marlowe ( 1564-1593 ).

The play published in 1590, which focuses mainly on Timur and the brutality of conquests, also includes side characters like Bayezid I and Zabina; who are heavily based on the real Sultan Bayezid and Olivera Despina Hatun ( Zabina ).

Zabina, the Empress of Turkey and wife of Bayezid is captured with her husband by Timur and forced to endure humiliation as well as abuse. In the end, Bayezid could not bear it anymore and bashed his head on the golden cage he was forced into with his wife, brutally ending his life.

Heartbroken by the humiliation bestowed on her husband and his tragic death, Zabina then does the same, following her husband's actions, and ending her own life in the end.

This play is clearly a dramatized tale of the actual events that took place during the couple's captivity. However, there are a few things the play got right and wrong, such as the tragic ending of Bayezid. His reason for ending his life was the humiliation Despina Hatun had to endure. ( I believe he knew if he died the abuse towards her would end and she like the other Serbs captured on the Battlefield would be released. )

Though Zabina died, Olivera did not. Timurid sources state that she was released and sent back to her home in Bursa, where it will be assumed she attended her husband's funeral in the company of her stepson; Musa, who was also in captivity with them.

Adding on, Franchelle Stewart looks fab in that full attire 🫶👑

CHILDREN OF DESPINA HATUN

………. Hatun ( unknown name ) - Married Damad Ebu Bekir Mirza, son of Miranshah Mirza during or after Bayezid's captivity.

Pasa Melek Hatun - Married Damad Emir Celaluddin Islam son of Emir Şemseddin Mehmed; one of Timur's generals during or after Bayezid's captivity.

Oruz Hatun - Married an unknown man.

Oruz had a daughter named Ayse Hatun.