The Üç Serefeli Mosque, named after its unusual minaret with three balconies (serefe), was built between 1438 and 1447/841-851 AH by Murad II. Damaged in the 1752 earthquake, the mosque was repaired in 1763 by order of Mahmud III. A major restoration took place in 1930, with additional work on frescoes in 1999. The Koranic School (mekteb) and the soup kitchen (imaret) of the larger complex no longer exist while the madrasa (medrese) -called Saatli or Timekeeper's- and the dar'ül hadis have survived in heavily restored condition.

The mosque is composed of an oblong prayer hall with a large central dome preceded large open courtyard with surrounding arcade. This plan represents a fusion of the central-domed plan of early Ottoman mosques with ancient mosque designs known from Syria (e.g. the Great Mosque of Damascus with courtyard and oblong prayer hall). It is the first of its kind in the history of Ottoman architecture.

Accessed through portals to the northwest, northeast and southwest, and the courtyard is surrounded by an arcade on three sides. The fourth side is also arcaded, but the scale is larger to match that of the prayer hall. An ablution fountain occupies the center of the court, slightly north of the transverse axis defined by the portals. The northeast bay of the portico, covered with a trough vault, illustrates the original structure of the portico roof that was rebuilt with domes following collapse in the 1752 earthquake. 

Entering the prayer hall through the central doorway, the visitor emerges under a dome measuring 24 meters in diameter. It rests on six heavy arches arranged in a hexagonal shape that fall onto four piers embedded in the exterior walls and two large hexagonal piers at the center, left, and right. The transition to dome occurs with a thin belt of triangles that merge with decorative consoles in between arches, with dome buttressed providing additional support on the exterior. Twelve windows pierced into the drum illuminate the area under dome, which houses the mihrab on axis with the doorway. The mihrab area is decorated with painted patterns of interlocking wheels and stars and the windowpanes reflect the wood carving of the period.

Beyond the two hexagonal piers, the prayer hall extends on either side with rectangular spaces accessed privately through doors from the court and from the street. They are roofed with two domes each. The triangular poché between the hexagonal drum of the central dome and the twin domes of the side bays are crossed with small tripartite vaults ornamented with stalactites on the inside and crowned with turrets on the outside. All domes are covered with lead on the exterior. 

Sources:

Ayverdi, Ekrem Hakki. Osmanlı Mimârîsinde. Çelebi ve II. Sultan Murad devri, 806-855 (1403-1451), 215-224. Istanbul: Baha Matbaasi, 1972.

Bumin, Kürsat. Edirne. Ankara: Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Culture, Directorate of Publications, 1993.

Dijkema, F. Th. The Ottoman Historical Monumental Inscriptions in Edirne. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1977.

Goodwin, Godfrey. A History of Ottoman architecture, 77-78. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1997.

Kuran, Aptullah. The Mosque in Early Ottoman Architecture, 88. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968.

Meinecke, Michael. Die Mamlukische Architektur in Ägypten und Syrien (648/1250 bis 923/1517). Glückstadt: Verlag J. J. Augustin, 1992.

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