Discover Bilecik: History, Crafts and Landscapes

Bilecik reveals itself through distinctive historical sites and crafts: in Bilecik Merkez, you’ll encounter a clock tower, the Bilecik Museum and religious buildings. Other cultural and landscape attractions are found in various districts across the province. When planning your trip, it helps to first prioritise the places that interest you. Should your holiday rental be suited primarily to a stay focused on museums and architectural history, or would you also like to include Söğüt, Bozüyük, Osmaneli and Pazaryeri?

History and architecture in Bilecik Merkez

The Bilecik Museum is an archaeology and ethnography museum with finds from Bilecik and the surrounding area. In the ethnographic halls, you’ll find displays about the founding of the Ottoman Empire and insights into life in nomadic camps and households. Items on display include weapons, everyday vessels made of ceramic and metal, and clothing and jewellery from the Bilecik region.

The museum building itself also has a story to tell. It was built as a two-storey gendarmerie building in 1794. It was destroyed during the Turkish War of Independence and rebuilt on its foundations after the war. It served as a courthouse and prison until 1995; in 2007, it opened as the Bilecik Museum. Its former use and its current museum collection offer two different perspectives on the history of the place.

The clock tower in Bilecik Merkez was built in 1907 at the behest of Ertuğrul Mutasarrıfı Musa Kazım Bey. Bilecik Merkez is also home to the Şeyh Edebali Tomb. The Orhan Gazi Mosque is considered the first attempt at a domed structure in the religious architecture of the Ottoman-Turkish tradition. For a cultural focus in Bilecik Merkez, the buildings and museum sit side by side, although they do not tell the same historical story.

Memorial sites and buildings in other districts

The Ertuğrul Gazi Mausoleum is located in Söğüt. Ertuğrul Gazi was Osman Gazi’s father and a Seljuk frontier lord. Osman Gazi initially had the tomb built as an open grave; later, Mehmed I had it converted into a mausoleum. The building has a hexagonal floor plan and a dome. Its walls consist of one course of stone and two courses of brick.

The Ertuğrul Gazi Commemoration and Söğüt Festivals, known as Yörük Bayramı, are also part of Söğüt’s history. Members of the Kayı tribe traditionally celebrate them every year on the Sunday of the second week of September. Numerous visitors from Turkey and abroad come to Söğüt for the celebrations. Those interested in memorial sites and regional traditions will find a different focus here than in the museum collections of Bilecik Merkez.

Near Bozüyük, the Metristepe Monument commemorates those who fell in the Battles of İnönü. Osmaneli offers another perspective on historical architecture: the Rüstem Paşa Mosque was built in the 16th century by Rüstem Paşa, the son-in-law and vizier of Kanuni Sultan Süleyman. It is built of Lefke stone, which occurs in the region. In Vezirhan, the mosque built by Köprülü Mehmet Paşa in 1665 stands on the Bilecik–Sakarya road, near the Köprülü Mehmet Paşa Caravanserai. Numerous Ottoman-era civic buildings have also been preserved in the centre of Osmaneli and in the surrounding villages.

Osmaneli’s transport links are another point of reference for understanding the region: the Istanbul–Eskişehir road and the Istanbul–Eskişehir–Ankara railway line pass through the district. These corridors are associated with Osmaneli. When choosing a holiday rental, it is therefore helpful to first decide which places will be the focus of your trip.

Crafts, regional cuisine and landscapes

Pottery has been made in the village of Kınık in Pazaryeri district for 120 years, in around 45 to 50 workshops. In Pazaryeri, household earthenware and wooden items for tourists and as souvenirs continue to be made. Both places represent craft traditions in the province that differ from the architecture and museum attractions of Bilecik Merkez.

A regional speciality is Pazaryeri boza. A little cinnamon and Pazaryeri halva are recommended with it. The boza season begins at the end of September, when the cold weather sets in. The Harmankaya Canyon is another landscape attraction. It lies between the districts of Yenipazar and İnhisar and was declared a nature park in 2012. Historical, craft, culinary and landscape attractions are thus spread across different places. If you plan to visit several of them, choose your holiday rental based on the places that matter most to you.

Discover more places

Explore more destination pages: Bilecik, Bozüyük, Söğüt and Aşağıköy Köyü.

Discover more destinations: Yalova, Kocaeli, Bursa, Sakarya.

Return to the main travel overview: Marmara.