Haskovo

Haskovo lies on a plain below the northern foothills of the Rhodopes. Known to the Ottomans as Hasköy, it developed into a town of craftsmen and traders along the road through Thrace. Its Old Mosque, founded in 1394–1395, is among the early surviving Ottoman religious buildings in the region; an endowment once supported a bathhouse as well as the mosque.

Ottoman records describe Hasköy as a growing settlement with several neighbourhoods in the sixteenth century. Nearby Uzundzhovo became a notable gathering place for merchants. In 1592 Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha endowed a substantial complex there, including a mosque and caravanserai where travellers could lodge with their animals. The great fair held near the complex drew trade to the district and linked Haskovo's workshops and markets with a wider world of exchange.