The sultans of the Ottoman Empire always took care to decorate their possessions with original buildings in their dominions, and paid great attention to the creation of magnificent mosques throughout the Caliphate. Travelling through the territory of their state, they ordered the to build one building or another on the occasion of their visit. Most often these were mosques, madrasas or tekkiyehs (clergy quarters). In addition, the sultans encouraged their wealthy subjects to invest in the construction of religious and charitable institutions. Due to this scale of construction, a special position was even introduced in the empire - the chief architect of the Sultan. Thus, it is believed that the mosque of Bayezid II was built by the architect Hayrettin. But, given the absence of any historical documents confirming this, some historians believe that Yakup Shah bin Sultan Shah was the creator of this magnificent mall.
The construction of Sultan Bayezid II's cemetery and mosque began in the spring of 1484, when the ruler stopped in Edirne before a military campaign in Moldavia. On his order, the complex was erected on the right bank of the Tunca River and included a a guest house, a free canteen for the poor, a hospital, a madrasa, a hamam, mill, and a bridge over the river. The area of the kulliye exceeds 22,000 square metres. square metres. Most of all, this building looks like a "Muslim monastery", but the complex was also intended to treat the mentally ill, create medicines, and train doctors.
Architecturally, the most interesting building of the complex is the mosque with two minarets. Their height is 38 metres and their diameter is approximately three metres. The mosque is adorned with one large dome (diam. 20.55 metres) resting on a twenty-sided drum with an area of about 500 square metres. In addition, the dome rests on four massive pillars with stalactite tops. The total number of domes on all the buildings of the kulliye exceeds a hundred. The ablution pool is located outside the premises - into the courtyard, along the perimeter of which there is a bypass gallery covered with small domes. It should be noted that the architects of those times tried not to remove trees from construction sites, so several cypress trees were left in the courtyard of the Bayezid II mosque, which decorate the entire ensemble.
The mosque has an unusual layout. At the entrance to its premises on the right and left open two wings, forming a kind of vestibule with vaulted arcades. The long gallery of the mosque is reminiscent of medieval monastery refectories. Domes The domes are covered with lead slabs, and a golden crescent moon is built on the spire. Despite the fact that the mosque belongs to the number of funerary, türbe (from Turkish. - Turkish for "tomb") is located behind the mosque.
The hospital located on the grounds of Bayezid II's kulliye was very much in demand and served patients. Bayezid II Hospital was in great demand and served patients for almost four centuries, until the Russo-Turkish War. Both general doctors and highly specialized specialists worked here: ophthalmologists, surgeons and pharmacists. The hospital also had a special department for the mentally ill - tymarkhane (which means “mental hospital”). In the treatment of these sufferers, they used unusual methods for the time. unusual methods for those times: national music, the melodious murmuring of water, aromatherapy. In 1984, the hospital buildings were handed over to the University of Trakia and after renovation they were used for educational purposes. In Tymarkhan The Health Museum was opened in 1997. Its interesting exposition allows visualise the level of medical development in the Ottoman Empire.
