The oldest building in Edirne, and at the same time its main landmark, is Eski Jami or as it is also known as Old Cemetery. The oldest building in Edirne and at the same time its main attraction is the Eski Jami or the Old Mosque. It is located slightly below the Selimiye Mosque and is at first sight a very strange building (at first it looks like something agricultural). This architectural monument deserves to admire its impressive marble entrance and beautiful fountains. The construction of this mosque, located in Huriet Square, began in 1403, commissioned by Emir Suleyman Çelebi and completed in 1414 during the reign of his son, Sultan Mehmed Çelebi. "challenger").
Eski Jami was built in the traditional style of early Ottoman architecture under the direction of architect Hadji Alladin of Konya, made of hewn limestone, in places supplemented by alternating layers of stone and brick, characteristic of ancient architecture.
In its appearance, the mosque resembles the architecture of Bursa. The building is crowned with nine semicircular domes. Strangely enough, only one of the domes has a light window. Opposite the mosque is a 14-domed covered market (bedesten), built of treated red and white stone in 1417-1418 by the same architect.
The mosque has two adjoining minarets. It is a square building with four columns and was modelled on a Byzantine church. Behind the mosque there are two tombstones: small one is near the tomb of the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II (1481-1512), who was dethroned by his younger son Selim I the Terrible (1512-1520), famous for his brutality in the Ottoman Empire. Another monument, honoured by the people as a shrine to this day, is dedicated to Mehmed Bey.
The interior of the mosque combines floral vignettes and Arabic inscriptions, a stunning combination of red and white vaults that seem to have been applied over the top of everything with a brush and ink. Its columns are clearly of ancient Roman origin. It's likely there must have been an ancient structure on this site long ago, which was partly partially destroyed. Some of the surviving elements of this building are an organic part of the Eski Jami.
On the end wall of the mosque there is an "Ottoman swan" - a symbol of faith, next to which there is an inscription: "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet!"
