The famous Uç-Sherefeli Jami Mosque, or the Three Balcony Mosque as it is also known, is located north of Edirne Bazaar and to the right of the city's main square. It stands directly on the main street of the city, opposite the Bedesten covered market. During the years of its construction (1437-1447) it was the largest building in the city. Its original architecture bears signs of the transition from Seljuk temple architecture to classical architecture.
A special feature of the mosque is the rather large courtyard, which was used here for the first time in the history of Ottoman architecture. In the centre of this open courtyard is a shadirvan fountain in which it is customary to wash the face, hands and feet on the way to the prayer hall. The courtyard is surrounded by domed galleries. In addition, during the construction of the mosque was used another innovation - they learnt to make the ceiling in the form of a single dome, rather than several, as before. Huge for those times the dome is located on a hexagonal drum resting on two external walls and two massive columns inside. The dome has a diameter of 24 metres.
Four minarets of different styles and heights, located in the corners of the rectangular courtyard, give a special charm to this unusual mosque. They seem surprisingly disproportionate to the huge massive building - they are very tall and thin. The tallest of them, 67 metres high, has three balconies, each of which is accessed by a separate staircase. The minaret is made of red and white stone, forming an original zigzag pattern. The second minaret, called "baklavali" (which means with baklava), is decorated with diamond-shaped ornamentation and two balconies. The third minaret, called "burmaly" (meaning "twisted"), attracts with its original decoration in the form of a spiral encompassing the minaret and has, like the classic fourth, only one balcony. It should be noted that the overall structure of the mosque is still standard.
The Uch-Sherefeli Jami Mosque was badly damaged by a powerful earthquake in 1751. It was partially rebuilt in 1763 and completely restored in 1930 and in 1999. Uç Şerefeli in Edirne is an example of a building erected during the period of the search for new forms of Ottoman architecture. It clearly demonstrates the transition from the Seljuk style of Konya and Bursa to the classical Ottoman style of Istanbul mosques.
