By Melpomeni Perdikopoulou | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of History and Archaeology

Description

The Imaret of Komotini is located in the western part of the city of Komotini. It is at a short distance from the eastern walls of the Byzantine castle of Koumoutzines, which was an administrative and military center and station on the main road from Constantinople to the west. The Imaret of Komotini is one of the oldest Ottoman monuments in Thrace and is related to the expansion and dominance of the Ottomans in the region (1360–80).

Based on recent field research and publications, the Imaret of Komotini has been identified with the Imaret which, according to the sources, was built by the conqueror of the city, Gazi Evrenos, in 1364/65–1382/83. It is a building with three rooms (eyvans) that form a T-shape (zaviyeli-cami) on the ground plan. The middle space, square in design, is the center of the building. It is covered with a hemispherical dome with a low octagonal drum through four lobes made using the technique of prismatic triangles. It is open on the north side with two wide pilasters supporting a tall semicircular arch. In the middle of its south wall, a rectangular niche is present, which is crowned by a pointed arch. Two stone doorways with large relief arches above lead to the two side rooms, which are similarly covered and equipped with fireplaces. The building is constructed in the Byzantine technique of brick-enclosed masonry.

The use of carved stones is also evident around the corners of the structure. At the top of the arch of the south side is an inlaid marble female head dating to Roman times. A toothed cornice crowns the masonry. The complex of the Imaret and the adjacent Eski Mosque mark the new phase of Ottomanisation within the city. The new rulers settled outside the walled city, which housed the Christians, shaping the new parameters of the city’s development.

Significance

The Imaret of Komotini is one of the oldest Ottoman buildings in the Balkans, perhaps the oldest and architecturally of great importance; the imaret follows an inverted T-plan (of the multifunctional building type or zaviyeli-cami) facilitating social and, to a lesser extent, ritualistic uses. Discussions of the building’s plan usually ignore the side rooms, which functioned as guestrooms and kitchens. Rather than being used as a space for prayer, the central hall of the Imaret in Komotini is likely to have been the communal hall of the building – that is, the rear end of the central hall may not have been the section reserved for praying.

Curiously enough, this part is not oriented to Mecca. The building also lacks the mihrab niche and minaret. It was not built for use as a Friday Mosque, as previous scholarship has suggested. Rather, it is assumed that it was meant to be a building for the public good, a point made especially convincing by Evrenos’ construction of a mosque now called the “Old Mosque”, situated less than fifty meters to the west of the imaret.

What is more, the imaret in Komotini probably forms the earliest example of the building types mentioned above, even before three other similar structures in Bithynia were erected. The plan of the Komotini building is comparable to that of the imarets built in Asia Minor: the Yakub Çelebi İmaret (c. 1389) and Nilüfer Hatun İmaret (c. 1387) in İznik, as well as the mosque/madrasa complex of Murad I in Bursa bearing the same plan. Even more important, is that while the T-type building of Murad I in Bursa claimed sultanic monumentality, the others were designed according to a more multifunctional, and down-to-earth, plan.

Significant differences in the nature of patronage for the buildings in Bithynia and Thrace are as follows: although the reign of Murad I witnessed a boom in royal T-type building construction, only the mosque/madrasa complex in Bursa was named after him. The structures located in İznik – the Yakub Çelebi İmaret and the Nilüfer Hatun İmaret – were dedicated to the members of the dynastic family. The Komotini imaret was commissioned by a nonroyal patron. Situated away from the capital in the newly conquered Ottoman lands, the imaret in Komotini, along with the han and the mosque, became a visual vehicle to promote Evrenos’ political agenda against Murad’s centralizing policies.

Moreover, the imaret of Hacı Evrenos served as a pivotal point in proto-Ottoman Gümülcine (Komotini), with its geo-reference enabling the reconstruction of the town’s layout, being linked to the extension route connecting Via Egnatia with the main entrance of the Byzantine castle. Positioned facing the public highway (çarşıya or tariki ‘am) and in close proximity to the Byzantine castle’s main gate, the Imaret reflected a typical proto-Ottoman site placement.

The broader project of Ottomanization in frontier principalities like Gümülcine relied on the activities of the Ahis, who were rewarded by the early sultans with land grants or revenue shares for their services in conquest. These grants facilitated the establishment of zaviyeli-mosques, which played a crucial role in urban stability and development. Through tax exemptions and administrative autonomy, the Ahis contributed to the maintenance and expansion of the urban network, reflecting a dynamic mechanism for governing newly conquered territories.

Further Reading

Çağaptay, Suna. “The Road from Bithynia to Thrakia: Gazi Evrenos’ Imaret in Komotini and Its Architectural Framework.” Byzantinische Forschungen 30 (2011): 429–42.

The article focuses on the architectural framework of Gazi Evrenos' Imaret in Komotini and delves into the historical and architectural significance of the imaret founded by the notable Ottoman military commander.

Doukata, Sofia. “Imaret.” In The Ottoman Architecture of Greece, edited by Ersi Brouskari, 324–26. Athens: Ministry of Culture, Directorate of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Antiquities, 2008.

This entry in the collective work offers a comprehensive view of the history and architecture of the imaret of Komotini, accompanied by photographs and drawings by the local Ephorate of Antiquities.

Lowry, Heath. The Shaping of the Ottoman Balkans 1350-1550: The Conquest, Settlement and Infrastructural Development of Northern Greece. İstanbul: Bahçeşehir University Publications, 2008.

This book examines the formative years of the Ottoman Empire, before it was an actual empire. 

Lowry, Heath. In the Footsteps of the Ottomans: A Search for Sacred Spaces and Architectural Monuments in Northern Greece. İstanbul: Bahçeşehir University Publications, 2009.

Lowry searches for traces of the Ottoman past, with a focus on Muslim religious sanctuaries. A significant number of the Ottoman monuments in Northern Greece are recorded and accompanied by a wealth of photographs, old and new.