Tomb of Ertuğrul Gazi

Ertuğrul Gazi Tomb is the tomb of Ertuğrul Gazi, father of Osman Gazi, founder of the Ottoman Beylik, and Seljuk Frontier Lord, located in the district of Söğüt, Bilecik Province.

History

The building, constructed at the end of the 13th century, has an uncertain exact construction date. It was first commissioned by Osman Gazi as an open grave, and later transformed into a tomb by Mehmed I. During the reign of Sultan Mustafa III, it was repaired in 1757 as if rebuilt, and its original form was altered. In 1886 it was repaired again by Abdulhamid II and a fountain was added beside it.

Ertuğrul Gazi Tomb has a hexagonal plan, covered with a dome, and is accessed after a rectangular entrance. There are two windows on each side of this entrance. The tomb’s walls are built of one row of stone and two rows of brick. Rectangular windows have been opened in the western and southeastern walls inside the tomb where the sarcophagus is located.

During the Greek occupation period (1921), the destruction that occurred in Söğüt and its surroundings included the demolition of Ertuğrul Gazi Tomb by the Greek army with dynamite, as recorded in official documents of the time. Mustafa Kemal Paşa, President of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, stated in his proclamation titled “Statement to Humanity” dated 12 April 1921 that among the atrocities committed by the Greek army against the Turkish people was the “dynamiting of Ertuğrul Gazi Tomb in Söğüt.”