Ottoman Era

1299 CE – 1922 CE · 5 sites

All sites in this period

The domed exterior of Hagia Sophia with its Ottoman minarets, Istanbul, Turkey

Country Record

Oldest Monument in Türkiye

Hagia Sophia

532 CE – 1453 CE

The supreme achievement of Byzantine architecture — a vast domed basilica built by the emperor Justinian in Constantinople in just five years and completed in 537 CE, its 31-metre dome seeming to float on a ring of windows. For nearly a thousand years it was the largest enclosed space and greatest cathedral in the Christian world, before becoming a mosque, a museum, and a mosque again.

Late AntiqueByzantineOttoman

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Bursa

200 BCE – 1400 CE

The first capital of the Ottoman Empire, where the dynasty's founding sultans are buried, home to the Green Mosque and Ulu Cami, and gateway to Mount Olympus of Mysia (Uludağ).

HellenisticRomanByzantine

The Selimiye Mosque by Mimar Sinan rising above the city of Edirne

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Edirne (Adrianople)

100 BCE – 1500 CE

The second Ottoman capital, where Mimar Sinan built his masterpiece the Selimiye Mosque — considered the greatest achievement of Ottoman architecture — and site of multiple battles that shaped European and Ottoman history.

RomanByzantineOttoman

The double walls of ancient Nicaea with Istanbul Gate in the foreground

Nicaea (İznik)

700 BCE – 1400 CE

The city where the Nicene Creed was forged in 325 CE, ringed by spectacular Roman-Byzantine double walls and later renowned worldwide for its exquisite Ottoman ceramic tiles.

ClassicalHellenisticRoman

Safranbolu

1200 CE – 1500 CE

A UNESCO World Heritage town preserving over 1,000 Ottoman-era timber houses, historic bazaars, and bath complexes — the finest intact example of a traditional Ottoman trading town, named for its centuries-old saffron trade.

MedievalOttoman