The name ‘Hüdavendigâr Camii’ (Mosque of the Monarch) reflects the imperial longings of Murat I (1362-1389). He built this mosque in 1363, at the request of his mother Nilüfer Hatun. The typical use of alternating layers of brick and stone, although decorative, was a measure of economy practised by Byzantine builders, long before Ottomans adopted it too. It had to be rebuilt (around 1420) after its destruction during the 1413 Karamanoğlu attack against Bursa (during the civil war between the sons of Sultan Bayezid I, which left the city without proper defence). In 1855 an earthquake brought down the dome. In 1904-‘06 a comprehensive restoration of the mosque took place, and in 2006 it was renewed to its present state.

In fact, the impressive facade hides three different entities: a mosque (with an ‘inversed T’ ground plan), a ‘zaviye’ (dervish lodge) lying on the same floor (between the porch and the mosque) and a medrese (theological college) on the first and second floor. There are Seljuk examples of two-storey colleges, but the erection of an orthodox college above a retreat of heterodox dervishes is extraordinary.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: ‘Islamic Architecture: Ottoman Turkey’ (Godfrey Goodwin) – London 1977
‘Türkiye Tarihi Yerler Kılavuzu’ – M.Orhan Bayrak, Inkılâp Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1994
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