Kırklareli

Kırklareli lies in eastern Thrace, below the wooded slopes of the Strandzha hills. Its older Greek and Ottoman names, Saranta Ekklisies and Kırkkilise, both refer to forty churches. In the town centre stands the complex of Hızır Bey, an early Ottoman foundation that brought a mosque, bathhouse and covered row of shops together around the marketplace.

An inscription records that Hızır Bey, a commander under Sultan Murad I, founded the mosque in 1383. The traveller Evliya Çelebi later described Kırkkilise as a town without a fortress, with fine houses and green gardens. The mosque suffered damage in an earthquake in 1824–1825 and was repaired; after a subsequent fire, it was rebuilt again in the early 1830s. The buildings remained a centre of worship and commerce through these changes.