I had been in doubt whether to include the Selimiye Mosque in my Western Turkey itinerary, due to the ongoing renovations (would it be worth visiting anyway in this condition?) and the tiring detour one has to make from Istanbul to get to Edirne. But eventually, I decided to bite the bullet and clear all WHS in this region so I don’t ‘have to’ revisit. I solved the logistical problem by taking a direct bus from Istanbul Airport to Edirne. The company Istanbul Seyahat has one every 2 hours (bookable online via Obilet). The ride takes only 3 hours as this way you avoid the heavy traffic in the Istanbul metropolis.

It had been difficult to find information beforehand about the state of the renovations. I only knew that the mosque would stay open to visitors and worshippers. Well, I found the building completely covered in scaffolding – except for one of the minarets. Still, the sheer size of the building and the delicately slender minarets impressed me.

I then started looking for a way in. From the covered market (also part of the core zone) and a public toilet, you can enter the building near the minaret which is free of scaffolding. My guess would be that only 15% of the interior is currently accessible - the finely carved details and the tiles (all from Iznik) betray the building’s artistic wealth. The rest of the mosque is fully hidden behind cardboard partition walls, on which they have added large photos of the things you cannot see. Construction workers were busily moving about (even on a Sunday); the project is expected to be finished in March 2025, but it may take longer as operations of this size usually do.

To my own surprise, even in this state, I managed to spend 1.5 hours at the mosque complex. After visiting the interior, I slowly walked a full loop around the exterior walls. I also went into the Turkish-Islamic Arts Museum (50 TL), which is housed in the former Dar’ül Hadis Madrasa which was part of the social complex belonging to the mosque.