the Selimiye Mosque - Sinan's masterpiece

The purpose of our trip to Edirne last weekend was chiefly to visit this mosque: 

 But first a little background information on its architect (via Wikipedia, thank you):

Sinan was the chief Ottoman architect and civil engineer for sultans Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, and Murad III. He was responsible for the construction of more than three hundred major structures and other more modest projects. His apprentices would later design the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul and the Taj Mahal in the Mughal Empire.

The son of a stonemason, he received a technical education and became a military engineer. He rose rapidly through the ranks to become first an officer and finally a Janissary commander, with the honorific title of ağa. He refined his architectural and engineering skills while on campaign with the Janissaries, becoming expert at constructing fortifications of all kinds, as well as military infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges and acqueducts. At about the age of fifty, he was appointed as chief royal architect, applying the technical skills he had acquired in the army to the "creation of fine religious buildings" and civic structures of all kinds. He remained in post for almost fifty years.

His masterpiece is considered to be the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, pictured above. It is thought to be the most perfect mosque of his design, the culmination of his many works. And indeed, it is stunning. I apologize for the borrowed images from the internet, but my camera pictures didn't turn out well enough to do this space justice. This is the interior:

I'll tell you what I loved the most about this mosque, and it wasn't the dome or the minarets or even the lanterns arranged so perfectly in circles... This mosque was ALIVE.  In the middle of the afternoon when we arrived, there was a traveling group of women in scarves, gathered around their guide leading them in supplication. There was a group of young women gathered together in a corner, talking and snacking on simit. There were children racing in circles around the fountain in the center, their shrieks punctuating the white noise, the hum of people talking. Countless little groups of old Turkish men, fingering their tasbihs and chatting. Everyone in the mosque had access to all areas except for the very front. It was amazing. I hope that our students noticed this shift. Many of the mosques we visit in Istanbul proper act as functioning mosques, yes, but so many of them have specific places for tourists, and people come in and out and travel through them, but rarely do they feel like so much of a community space as the mosques in the outlying areas do (Fatih Cami has this feel too). It is in the nature of a mosque to be irreverent in a way - in that it is a space for communion with the transcendent and a public space for regular, worldly life. My experience of the Selimiye was special because you could visibly see all its functions. 

That to me, is the "success" of this building.