[4] Selim II appeared to have a passion for the city, having served as its governor between 1548 and 1550, and he visited it frequently after becoming sultan.

[5][6] Edirne, a former Ottoman capital, was also one of the most important cities in the empire and a major stop on the imperial highway between Istanbul and the Balkan provinces.

[5][6] Other motivations may have included the fact that there were no more prominent hilltop sites in Istanbul available for the construction of an imperial mosque complex – at least not without resorting to mass expropriations.

[8][9][10] The mosque's construction and its waqf (charitable endowment) were ultimately funded with the help of the sultan's share of the spoils from the successful conquest of Cyprus, which was completed in 1571 with the surrender of Famagusta.

During the reign of Abdülmecid I (1839–1861), the mosque's interior was re-plastered and its decoration redone, in a style partially imitating the former ornamentation.

On the orders of Atatürk, traces of the damage were left unrestored, as a reminder and warning to future generations.

Soon after, at the end of the Second Balkan War, some of the mosque's oldest carpets were stolen by retreating Bulgarian troops.

[20] The mosque's courtyard forms a dramatic approach that helps to frame the view of the main dome from outside.

[24][20] The marble shadirvan or ablutions fountain in the center of the courtyard, made of carved and pierced stone, is one of the finest examples of its kind from this period, but it lacks the usual roof and canopy.

Doğan Kuban believes that this indicates it was never completed, while Gülru Necipoğlu states that this merely further emphasizes the view of the mosque's main dome above.

The entrance portal to the mosque's prayer hall has a more typical muqarnas canopy, while the dome covering the space in front of it is heavily fluted and decorated.

[29] Sinan also made good use of the spaces between the supporting pillars and buttresses by filling them with an elevated gallery inside the prayer hall, matched on the outside by arched porticos.

"[33] The mihrab is set back from the rest of the prayer hall, standing in an apse-like projection with enough depth to allow for window illumination from three sides.

[34] The mihrab itself is made of marble and is a good example of Ottoman stone-carving in this period, with a muqarnas hood and an inscription band.

[36][20][37] The sultan's private balcony for prayers, or hünkâr mahfili, is set in an elevated position in the mosque's eastern corner and is also decorated with excellent Iznik tiles.

This position, which obscures the view of the mihrab from the mosque entrance, is unusual in Ottoman architecture and was never repeated by Sinan.

[36][39] The elevated platform is made of beautifully-painted wood supported by twelve low arches with multifoil forms.

[42] Some of the best-preserved painted decoration from the Classical period (16th-17th centuries), uncovered during a 1980s restoration, can be found on the wooden surfaces of the müezzin mahfili.

[31] The long-distance comparison with the Hagia Sophia was indirectly reiterated when the latter acquired a second pair of minarets in the same configuration, designed by Sinan[31] during the reign of Murad III (r. 1574–1595).

[44] The mosque stands at the center of a külliye (a religious and charitable complex) within an outer perimeter wall, occupying an elevated site measuring approximately 130 by 190 metres (430 by 620 ft).