Description:
Darülhadis Mosque was initially intended to be a school of sacred tradition - darülhadis - that gave the building its name. However, the main sponsor, Sultan Murad II, changed his mind and had his architect Koçu Ahmet redesign it as a mosque. Apparently, Murad II was a person who enjoyed changing architectural plans as this story was repeated when Muradiye Mosque was converted from the dervish lodge.
The inscription above the entrance to the mosque reads: "This is the great sultan, the sultan of the supreme sultans, the victorious father of the sultan, the son of the conqueror, the father of the conqueror, who is the supporter of the supreme, the enemy of the victorious, the judge of justice and benevolence. It is the mosque of the Murad Han, son of Bayezid Khan's son Mehmet Han."
Darülhadis Mosque was erected in 1434 as a part of a larger complex of religious buildings that also included a medrese, a bathhouse, a hostel, and a soup kitchen. The medrese suffered great damage in a fire in 1903. Moreover, the complex was partly damaged during the Balkan Wars. The bombardment of the Bulgarian army destroyed the hostel along with the portico and the minaret of the mosque. The mosque was later reconstructed along with its single-balcony minaret.
The portico comprises eleven bays - five of them at the front, and the others along the sides of the building. The frontal part of the portico is supported by six original marble columns, and the side porticoes are supported by wooden pillars. The central bay in front of the main entrance is higher than the others.
The mosque was erected on the rectangular plan and has the dimensions of 15.4 to 9.85 meters. The building material was cut stone and bricks above the central bay. The interior of the mosque is divided into two main parts. The first one is a vestibule comprising of three rooms, covered with ellipsoidal vaults. Next, there is the main prayer room on the square plan, covered with a dome supported on the pendentives.
The mosque is surrounded by a beautiful garden, and behind it, there are two tombs. The first one, known as the Açık Türbe - Open Mausoleum, is dated to 1434. It is an open hexagonal building. The second one is called the Şehzadeler Türbesi - Princesses' Mausoleum. It was erected on an octagonal plan in 1449. These are the mausoleums of the sultans' families and contain the graves of Hasan and Orhan, the sons of Sultan Murad II and the brothers of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. Also, the children of Sultan Mustafa II, his daughters Hatice, Rukiye, and Ümmügülsüm, as well as his son Ahmed, are buried here. Moreover, his consort, Alicenab Kadın, who died in 1699 in Edirne Palace, was also buried in Darülhadis Mosque. Finally, there are the graves of Sultan Ahmet III's two sons, Mehmed and Selim, and his daughter Zeynep.
The bathhouse that originally belonged to the Darülhadis Mosque complex is situated 650 meters to the east of the mosque, in Kaleiçi neighbourhood. It was built by Sultan Murad II as a source of income to support the mosque. It had a plan of a double bath - with separate sections for men and women - and at the time of its construction was the biggest hammam in Edirne.
It is now called Eski Tahtakale Hamamı, and it was open to the public even in the second half of the 20thcentury. Unfortunately, it is now closed and used as a garbage dump by the locals. Each year, the local press informs about the cleaning of the bath's interior, but no systematic reconstruction efforts have been taken so far. You can spot the domes of this ruined baths above the roofs of the houses along Saraçlar Avenue.
Getting there:
The mosque is beautifully situated near the northern bank of Tunca River, on Darül Hadis Street, very close to Grand Synagogue of Edirne. The distance from the Selimiye Mosque is 1.5 km to the north-east.