This mosque was built in 1339, just 13 years after the conquest of the city by the Orhan, son of Osman who captured Bursa and made it the first Ottoman capital. The mosque has been repeatedly restored. It has a T-form ground plan.

In 1413 already, the mosque was damaged, as a result of the Karamanoğlu attack against Bursa (which happened
at a time that Bursa was left without proper defence, due to the civil war between the sons of Sultan Bayezid I). It was restored in 1417, but had to suffer from fires and earthquakes several times. The actual building is, therefore, a heavily restored ‘royal’ mosque. Its ‘inverted T’ ground plan is well recognizable on this picture of the interior;
the Orhan Gazi Mosque is reported to be the very first of this type.
The deep five-bay porch in the early Ottoman style admits to the vestibule of the central inner court of the prayer hall. On both sides of this small vestibule, there are ‘zaviye’ rooms.

Zaviye = a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood and was a place for spiritual retreat and character reformation. These places (‘hanegah’ or ‘zaviye’) often served as hospices for Sufi travelers and Islamic students. Important (and large) ‘zaviye’ are often referred to as ‘Tekke’.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: ‘Türkiye Tarihi Yerler Kılavuzu’ – M.Orhan Bayrak, Inkılâp Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1994.
‘Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire’ - Gábor Ágoston & ‎Bruce Alan Masters, 2009
& ‘Islamic Architecture: Ottoman Turkey’ (Godfrey Goodwin) – London 1977 .