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 | Bursa Downtown car rental - Travel Guide |  |
BURSA - first capital of the Ottoman Empire and the burial place of several sultans - does more justice to its setting than any other Turkish city besides Istanbul. Gathered here are some of the finest early Ottoman monuments in Turkey, in a tidy and appealing city centre.
Flanked by the busy Atatürk Cad, the compact Koza Parki with its fountains, benches, crowds and cafés, is the real heart of Bursa. On the far side looms the Ulu Camii, built between 1396 and 1399 by Yaldaram Beyazit I from the proceeds of booty won from the Crusaders at Nicopolis on the Danube. Before the battle Yaldaram had vowed to construct twenty mosques if victorious; the present building of twenty domes was his rather free interpretation of this promise. The interior is dominated by a huge Sadirvan pool for ritual ablutions in the centre, whose skylight was once open to the elements and an intricate walnut mimber (pulpit) pieced together, it's claimed, without nails or glue. Close by is Bursa's covered market, the Bedesten, given over to the sale of jewellery and precious metals, and the Koza Hani, flanking the park, still entirely occupied by silk and brocade merchants. Across the river to the east, the Yesil Camii is easily the most spectacular of Bursa's imperial mosques - though never completed, as you can see from the entrance. The hundreds of tiles inside give the mosque its name. Tucked above the foyer and usually closed to visitors, the imperial loge is the most extravagantly decorated chamber of all, the work attributed to a certain Al-Majnun ("The Mad One"). The nearby hexagonal Yesil Türbe contains the sarcophagus of Çelebi Mehmet I and assorted offspring. The immediate environs of the mosque are a busy tangle of cafés and souvenir shops. The medrese, the largest surviving dependency of the mosque, now houses Bursa's Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, with Iznik ware, Çanakkale ceramics, glass items and a mock-up of an Ottoman circumcision chamber.
West from the centre of town, the Hisar ("citadel") district was Bursa's original nucleus. A warren of narrow lanes wind up through dilapidated Ottoman houses to the remaining ramparts, while a skeleton of new walkways clinging to the rock face offer fabulous views. The best-preserved dwellings are a little way west in medieval Muradiye, where the Muradiye Külliyesi mosque and medrese complex was begun in 1424 by Murat II. This is the last imperial foundation in Bursa, although it's most famous for its tombs, set in lovingly tended gardens. Best of these commemorate Sehzade Ahmet and his brother Zehinzah, both murdered in 1513 by their cousin Selim the Grim to preclude any succession disputes, covered with Iznik tiles, which contrast sharply with the adjacent austerity of Murat II's tomb, where Roman columns inside and a wooden awning are the only superfluities: in accordance with his wishes, both the coffin and the dome were originally open to the sky "so that the rain of heaven might wash my face like any pauper's". From Muradiye it's a short walk down to Çekirge Caddesi and the southeast gate of the Kültür Parki where there's a popular tea garden, a small boating lake and three pricey restaurants. At the far end there's also an Archeological Museum, whose exhibits include metal jewellery from all over Anatolia, a collection of Roman glass items and Byzantine and Roman bronzes. Just beyond the Kültür Parka, the Yeni Kaplica, accessible via a steep driveway, are the nearest of Bursa's baths, a faded reminder of the days when the town was patronized as a spa. |
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