Edirne was an important stoppover on the land route from Western Europe to the Ottoman capital. the members of diplomatic missions to Istanbul stopped over and most often spent the night in Edirne, which was the second most important city of Thrace.

Thus, plates of characteristic human types of the city are included in the work by N. de Nicolay, the first travel account to depict human types from the Ottoman empire. The same subject appears in several editions down to the late 19^th century (G. Patieridis / K. Stamatis). Also, a portrait of Sultan Murad I, who established Edirne as capital of the Ottoman empire, is found in the important historical treatise by L. Chalcondylis (1632). Albums showing human types of the Ottoman empire had become very popular by the end of the 16^th century and continued to circulate down to the late 18^th century. By that time they consisted of highly elaborate coloured engravings. Often the creators and publishers remained anonymous, while several of the pictures were copied from earlier works (Recueil, ca.1780).

The famed mosque of Selim, built by Sinan, is depicted in S. Schweigger’s travel chronicle (1608) as well as in the Album of E. Peytier's works (c. 1830).  Several military officers from Western Europe took part in the Russian-Ottoman war of 1829-30 and depicted monuments, landscapes and human figures from Thrace and the Black Sea in their illustrated memoirs (J. Ed. Alexander, 1830).

Buildings, antiquities, remains, palaces, walls, mosques and other views of the city come to life in the 1834 Album by C. Sayger / A. J. Desarnod,  who also took part in the Russian-Ottoman war of 1829-1830, in Czar Nicholas's I army.  

Finally, views of the city and its surroundings are included in the Album by R.Walsh / Th. Allom (1836 -1838), while the first photographs of Edirne appear in the work by J. Beauregard (1896).

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou