This is another series of shots of one of the truly great mosques in Bursa the Yesil or Green (1424) Mosque. It has a wealth of great tiles and carving, apart from just being good architecture.I visited the mosque once again in December 2006. I used flash to bring out more natural colours on the great tilework. Reflection caused some trouble, overall I think the result is acceptable.

The Yeşil Cami (‘Green’ mosque, because of the predominant colour of its tiles inside) is the most decorated of the city’s houses of prayer. Built for sultan Mehmed I Çelebi (1389-1421) by the architect Hacı Ivaz Paşa, who was also an army commander and a vizier; he is the architect of the Yeşil Türbe (mausoleum) too. The mosque’s building was completed in 1419, its inner decoration in 1424.
The mosque is built out of sandstone and clad with marble panels, a majority of which was replaced in the mid-19th century, when the building underwent an extensive renovation led by the French architect Léon Parvillée, as Ahmet Vefik Paşa, the Vali (governor) of Bursa, was unable to find a qualified Turkish architect.

On the picture: The west facade and the northwest minaret, which dates from c. 1860.
Originally the domes were covered with glazed tiles, in Timurid style. These tiles had been produced locally, by artisans from Tabriz (Iran), under the supervision of Ali bin İlyas Ali, a ‘nakkaş’ (painter-designer) from Bursa, who had been sent to Samarkand by Timurlenk in 1402, and had then seen the tiled domes of the Timurid mosques.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: ‘Vakıf Abideler ve eski Eserler’ - Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü III, Ankara 1983 - Wikipedia,