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195-530: The son of a stonemason, he received a technical education and became a military engineer. He rose rapidly through the ranks to become first an officer and finally a Janissary commander, with the honorific title of Sinan. He refined his architectural and engineering skills while on campaign with the Janissaries, becoming expert at constructing fortifications of all kinds, as well as military infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges and aqueducts . At about

390-406: A UNESCO World Heritage Site . At the start of his career as an architect, Sinan had to deal with an established, traditional domed architecture. His training as an army engineer led him to approach architecture from an empirical point of view, rather than from a theoretical one. He started to experiment with the design and engineering of single-domed and multiple-domed structures. He tried to obtain

585-562: A tax of one-fifth on all slaves taken in war , and from this pool of manpower the sultans first constructed the Janissary corps as a personal army loyal only to the Ottoman sultan . From the 1380s to 1648, the Janissaries were gathered through the devşirme system, which was abolished in 1648. This was the taking (enslaving) of non-Muslim boys, notably Anatolian and Balkan Christians; Jews were never subject to devşirme . There

780-818: A European style military band trained by Giuseppe Donizetti . In modern times, although the Janissary corps no longer exists as a professional fighting force, the tradition of Mehter music is carried on as a cultural and tourist attraction. In 1952, the Janissary military band , Mehterân , was organized again under the auspices of the Istanbul Military Museum . They hold performances during some national holidays as well as in some parades during days of historical importance. For more details, see Turkish music (style) and Mehter . Christianity in Turkey Christianity in Turkey has

975-418: A Janissary revolt deposed Sultan Selim III , who had tried to modernize the army along Western European lines. This modern army that Selim III created was called Nizam-ı Cedid . His supporters failed to recapture power before Mustafa IV had him killed, but elevated Mahmud II to the throne in 1808. When the Janissaries threatened to oust Mahmud II, he had the captured Mustafa executed and eventually came to

1170-549: A beard, taking up a skill other than soldiering, and marrying. As a result, the Janissaries were extremely well-disciplined troops and became members of the askeri class, the first-class citizens or military class. Most were of non-Muslim origin because it was not permissible to enslave a Muslim. It was a similar system to the Iranian Safavid , Afsharid , and Qajar era ghilmans , who were drawn from converted Circassians , Georgians , and Armenians , and in

1365-490: A community centre and serving the social needs and the health problems of the faithful. When Sinan died, classical Ottoman architecture had reached its climax. No successor was gifted enough to better the design of the Selimiye Mosque and to develop it further. His students retreated to earlier models, such as the Şehzade mosque. Invention faded away, and a decline set in. According to the official list of his works,

1560-404: A compromise with the Janissaries. Ever mindful of the threat that the Janissaries posed, the sultan spent the next years discreetly securing his position. The Janissaries' abuse of power, military ineffectiveness, resistance to reform, and the cost of salaries to 135,000 men, many of whom were not actually serving soldiers, had all become intolerable. By 1826, the sultan was ready to move against

1755-407: A conception of a whole. An architect could sketch a plan for a new building and an assistant or foreman knew what to do, because novel ideas were avoided. Moreover, architects used an extravagant margin of safety in their designs, resulting in a wasteful use of material and labour. Sinan would gradually change all this. He was to transform established architectural practices, amplifying and transforming

1950-583: A formidable department with a great number of assistants, finished this formidable task in seven years. Before Süleymaniye, no mosques had been built with half cubic roofs. He got the idea of half cubic roof design from the Hagia Sophia . Through this monumental achievement, Sinan emerged from the anonymity of his predecessors. Sinan must have known the ideas of the Renaissance architect Leone Battista Alberti (who in turn had studied De architectura by

2145-633: A good relationship with the Focolare Movement and the new Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul, Bishop Massimiliano Palinuro . Likewise, here in İzmir we get together with the Orthodox Christians , but also with the Anglicans , on various Christian feast days. Armenian priests recently celebrated an Armenian liturgy at our Catholic Church of St. Polycarp because they do not have their own church in İzmir. We also worked together with

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2340-512: A group of Turkish scholars. Proponents of the racial science popular at the time, they claimed that measurements of Sinan's skull proved that he was actually Turkish. As of 2016, the skull is missing. His name is also given to: Sinan's portrait was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 10,000 lira banknotes of 1982–1995 and a 7 500 000 lira coin of 2001 (in the "millennium" series), also on 6 postage stamps: 100 lira 1957 (400th anniversary of

2535-462: A hillside beyond Ayvansaray. Sinan certainly conceived the plans and partly supervised the construction, but left the building of lesser areas to less than competent hands, since Sinan and his most able assistants were about to begin his masterpiece, the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. On the outside, the mosque rises high, with its east wall pierced by four tiers of windows. This gives the mosque an aspect of

2730-517: A long history dating back to the early origins of Christianity in Asia Minor during the 1st century AD . In modern times the percentage of Christians in Turkey has declined from 20-25% in 1914, to about 2% in 1927, to 0.2–0.4% today Sources estimate that the Christian population in Turkey ranges between 180,000 and 320,000. However, the exact number remains unclear due to the absence of

2925-578: A master of archery, while at the same time, as an architect, learning the weak points of structures when gunning them down. In 1535 he participated in the Baghdad campaign as a commanding officer of the Royal Guard. In 1537 he went on expeditions to Corfu and Apulia and Moldavia . During these campaigns he proved himself an able architect and engineer. When the Ottoman army captured Cairo , Sinan

3120-495: A member of their own family. Less popular theories among scholars are that Sinan was Albanian , or even Jewish , or Christian Turkish . According to the Encyclopædia Britannica , Sinan had either Armenian or Greek origin. A local tradition in the village of Shiroka Lăka holds that Sinan was of Bulgarian origin and his family came from that village. Turkish scholars have meanwhile argued that Sinan's family

3315-421: A method of recruitment. The prescribed daily rate of pay for entry-level Janissaries in the time of Ahmet I was three Akçes . Promotion to a cavalry regiment implied a minimum salary of 10 Akçes. Janissaries received a sum of 12 Akçes every three months for clothing incidentals and 30 Akçes for weaponry, with an additional allowance for ammunition as well. For all practical purposes, Janissaries belonged to

3510-465: A mosque in one of his most imaginative designs, using new support systems and lateral spaces to increase the area available for windows. He built a central dome 37 m (121 ft) high and 20 m (66 ft) wide, supported by pendentives , on a square base with two lateral galleries, each with three cupolas. At each corner of this square stands a gigantic pier, connected with immense arches each with 15 large windows and four circular ones, flooding

3705-609: A moustache. These rules were obeyed by Janissaries, at least until the 18th century when they also began to engage in other crafts and trades, breaking another of the original rules. In the late 16th century a sultan gave in to the pressures of the Janissary Corps and permitted Janissary children to become members of the Corps, a practice strictly forbidden for 200 years. Consequently, succession rules, formerly strict, became open to interpretation. They gained their own power but kept

3900-705: A move known as the Slaughter of the Knezes . According to historical sources of the city of Valjevo , the heads of the murdered men were put on public display in the central square to serve as an example to those who might plot against the rule of the Janissaries. The event triggered the start of the Serbian Revolution with the First Serbian Uprising aimed at putting an end to the 370 years of Ottoman occupation of modern Serbia . In 1807,

4095-677: A new Patriarchate with Turkish as the preferred language of Christian worship . In 1924, Karahisarithis started to conduct the Christian liturgy in Turkish , and quickly won support from the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey , formed after the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922). He claimed that the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was ethnically centered and favored

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4290-437: A new geometrical purity, a rationality and a spatial integrity in his structures and designs of mosques. Through all this, he demonstrated his creativity and his wish to create a clear, unified space. He started to develop a series of variations on the domes, surrounding them in different ways with semi-domes, piers, screen walls and different sets of galleries. His domes and arches are curved, but he avoided curvilinear elements in

4485-455: A number of ways. They wore unique uniforms , were paid regular salaries (including bonuses) for their service, marched to music (the mehter ), lived in barracks and were the first corps to make extensive use of firearms. A Janissary battalion was a close-knit community, effectively the soldier's family. By tradition, the Sultan himself, after authorizing the payments to the Janissaries, visited

4680-473: A palace or even a block of apartments. Inside, there are three broad galleries making the interior look compact. The heaviness of this structure makes the dome look unexpectedly lofty. These galleries look like a preliminary try-out for the galleries of the Selimiye Mosque . In this late stage of his life, Sinan tried to create unified and sublimely elegant interiors. To achieve this, he eliminated all

4875-588: A perfect God. Sinan used subtle geometric relationships, using multiples of two when calculating the ratios and the proportions of his buildings. However, in a later stage, he also used divisions of three or ratios of two to three when working out the width and the proportions of domes, such as the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque at Kadırga. While he was fully occupied with the construction of the Süleymaniye, Sinan or his subordinates drew up

5070-464: A religious census in the country. The percentage of Christians in Turkey fell mainly as a result of the late Ottoman genocides : the Armenian genocide , Greek genocide , and Assyrian genocide , the population exchange between Greece and Turkey , the emigration of Christians that began in the late 19th century and gained pace in the first quarter of the 20th century, and due to events such as

5265-406: A result of the sultan taking his traditional one-fifth share of his army's plunder in kind rather than monetarily; however, the continuing enslaving of dhimmi constituted a continuing abuse of a subject population. For a while, the Ottoman government supplied the Janissary corps with recruits from the devşirme system. Children were drafted at a young age and turned into soldiers in an attempt to make

5460-752: A series of wars with the Safavid Empire and, after 1593, with the Habsburg monarchy . By 1609, the size of the corps had stabilized at approximately 40,000 men, but increased again later in the century, during the period of the Cretan War (1645–1669) and particularly the War of the Holy League (1683–1699). During the initial period of formation, Janissaries were expert archers , but they began adopting firearms as soon as such became available during

5655-518: A spacious, high-vaulted basement, slender minarets, single-domed baldacchino , flanked by three semi-domes ending in three exedrae and a broad double portico . The construction was finished in 1548. The construction of a double portico was not a first in Ottoman architecture, but it set a trend for country mosques and mosques of viziers in particular. Rüstem Pasha and Mihrimah required them later in their three mosques in Constantinople and in

5850-563: A theoretical one. But the same can be said of the great Western Renaissance architects, such as Brunelleschi and Michelangelo . Various sources state that Sinan was the architect of at least 374 structures which included 92 mosques ; 52 small mosques ( mescit ); 55 schools of theology ( medrese ); 7 schools for Koran reciters ( darülkurra ); 20 mausoleums ( türbe ); 17 public kitchens ( imaret ); 3 hospitals ( darüşşifa ); 6 aqueducts ; 10 bridges ; 20 caravanserais ; 36 palaces and mansions ; 8 vaults ; and 48 baths . Sinan held

6045-519: A work of his apprenticeship period and the Süleymaniye Mosque , which is the work of his qualification stage. The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne is the product of his master stage. Şehzade Mosque is the first of the grand mosques created by Sinan. The Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, which is also known as the Üsküdar Quay Mosque, was completed in the same year and has an original design with its main dome supported by three half domes. When Sinan reached

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6240-793: Is also a small group of ethnic Orthodox-Christian Turks (mostly living in Istanbul and İzmir ) who follow the Greek Orthodox, Turkish Orthodox, or Syriac Orthodox churches, and additionally Protestant Turks who still face difficulties regarding social acceptance, and also historic claims to churches or property in the country because they are former Muslim converts to Christianity from Turkish–Muslim background , rather than ethnic minorities . Ethnically Turkish Protestants number around 7,000–8,000. In 2009, there were 236 Christian churches open for worship in Turkey. The Eastern Orthodox Church has been headquartered in Constantinople since

6435-402: Is called ayasofya in Turkish , is an ancient Christian church dating to 360 AD that was converted into a mosque after Mehmed II invaded Constantinople in 1453. It has been a museum since 1935. Patriarch Bartholomew objected to the government's rhetoric, saying "If it is to reopen as a house of worship, then it should open as a Christian church." Also in 2013, the government announced that

6630-467: Is disputed, mainly between Armenian , and Cappadocian Greek . One argument that lends credence to his Armenian or Greek background is a decree by Selim II dated Ramadan 7 981 (ca. December 30, 1573), which granted Sinan's request to forgive and spare his relatives from the general exile of Kayseri's Armenian community to the island of Cyprus ; this decree was published in the June 1930-May 1931 edition of

6825-665: Is estimated that ten thousand Assyrians were killed, and reportedly "the skulls of small children were smashed with rocks, the bodies of girls and women who resisted rape were chopped into pieces live, men were mostly beheaded, and the clergy skinned or burnt alive...." In 1915, Turks and Kurds plundered the Assyrian village of Mar-Zaya in Jelu and slaughtered the population, it is estimated that 7,000 Assyrians were slaughtered during this period. In September 1914 more than 30 Armenian and Assyrian villages were burnt by Kurdish and Turkish mobs in

7020-530: Is generally considered to be the center and the "cradle of Orthodox Christian civilization ". From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe. The city became famous for its architectural masterpieces, such as Hagia Sophia , the cathedral of the Eastern Orthodox Church , which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate ,

7215-474: Is however evidence that Jews tried to enroll into the system. Jews were not allowed in the janissary army, and so in suspected cases, the entire batch would be sent to the Imperial Arsenal as indentured laborers. Ottoman documents from the levy of the winter of 1603-1604 from Bosnia and Albania wrote to draw attention to some children as possibly being Jewish ( şekine-i arz-ı yahudi ). According to

7410-462: Is located. Antioch , located in Turkey's Hatay province , is the original seat of the namesake Antiochian Orthodox Church , but is now the titular see . The area, known for having ethnic diversity and large Christian community, has 7,000 Christians and 14 active churches. The city has one of the oldest churches in the world as well, called the Church of St Peter , which is said to have been founded by

7605-543: Is markedly different from the additive plans of traditional Ottoman architecture. Sedefkar Mehmed Agha would later copy the concept of fluted piers in his Sultan Ahmed Mosque in an attempt to lighten their appearance. Sinan, however, rejected this solution in his next mosques. By 1550, Suleiman the Magnificent was at the height of his powers. Having built a mosque for his son, he felt it was time to construct his own imperial mosque , an enduring monument larger than all

7800-737: Is reputed to have taken Virgin Mary to Ephesus in western Turkey, where she spent the last days of her life in a small house, known as the House of the Virgin Mary , which still survives today and has been recognized as a holy site for pilgrimage by the Catholic and Orthodox churches, as well as being a Muslim shrine. The cave of the Seven Sleepers is also located in Ephesus. The death of

7995-466: Is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne . Breaking free of the handicaps of traditional Ottoman architecture, this mosque marks the climax of Sinan's work and of all classical Ottoman architecture. While it was being built, the architect's saying of " You can never build a dome larger than the dome of Hagia Sophia and specially as Muslims " was his main motivation. When it was completed, Sinan claimed that it had

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8190-946: Is the nearly 635 m (2,083 ft) long Büyükçekmece Bridge. Other important examples are the Ailivri Bridge, the Old Bridge in Svilengrad on the Maritsa, the Lüleburgaz (Sokullu Mehmet Pasha) Bridge on the Lüleburgaz River, the Sinanlı Bridge over the river Ergene and the Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge over Drina river in Bosnia and Herzegovina . While Sinan was maintaining and improving

8385-723: The Encyclopedia Britannica , "in early days, all Christians were enrolled indiscriminately. Later, those from what is now Albania , Bosnia , Greece and Bulgaria were preferred." Bektashism became the official order of the Janissary corps in 15th century. The Janissaries were kapıkulları (sing. kapıkulu ), "door servants" or "slaves of the Porte ", neither freemen nor ordinary slaves ( köle ). They were subjected to strict discipline, but were paid salaries and pensions upon retirement and formed their own distinctive social class. As such, they became one of

8580-465: The devşirme system of child levy enslavement, by which indigenous European Christian boys from the Balkans (predominantly Albanians , Bulgarians , Croats , Greeks , Romanians , Serbs , and Ukrainians ) were taken, levied, subjected to forced circumcision and forced conversion to Islam (in contradiction to traditional Islamic law, which forbids forced conversion), and incorporated into

8775-491: The 1st century AD . The spread of Christianity beyond Jerusalem is discussed in the Book of Acts . The Cappadocian Fathers produced some of the earliest hagiographies in the region. In addition to writings about feminine virtue by Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzos , later texts about Nicholas of Sion and Theodore of Sykeon described miracles and rural life. The historical region of Syria became one of

8970-742: The Armenians in İzmir to open a small book shop for the Bible Society . These are promising signs of an ecumenical dialogue." The Armenian Apostolic Church traces its origins to St. Gregory the Illuminator who is credited with having introduced the Armenian king Tiridates III to Christianity. It is one of the most ancient churches. Historically, the Armenian Church accepted only the first three Ecumenical Councils , rejecting

9165-410: The Balkans ) every five years for the strongest sons of the sultan's Christian subjects. These boys (usually between the ages of 10 and 20) were then taken from their parents, circumcised , and sent to Turkish families in the provinces to be raised as Muslims and learn Turkish language and customs. Once their military training began, they were subjected to severe discipline, being prohibited from growing

9360-645: The Biblical scriptures and Sacred traditions . The new church was recognized by the Ottoman government in 1850 after encouragement from the British Ambassador Henry Wellesley Cowley . There were reportedly 15 Turkish converts in Constantinople in 1864. One church minister said "We wanted the Turks first to become Armenian". Hagop A. Chakmakjian commented that "the implication was that to be Christian meant to be identified with

9555-585: The Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD; its Christology is sometimes described as " non-Chalcedonian " for this reason. The Bible was first translated into the Armenian language by Mesrop Mashtots . The Armenian Christian community in Turkey is led by the Armenian Patriarchates of Istanbul and Jerusalem . As of 2008 estimates of Turkey's Armenian Orthodox population range from between 50,000 and 70,000. There are 35 churches maintained by

9750-572: The Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe . In 2008 the Anglican bishop of Europe, Geoffrey Rowell , caused controversy by ordaining a local man to minister to Turkish-speaking Anglicans in Istanbul. The Armenian Evangelical Church was founded in 1846, after Patriarch Matteos Chouhajian excommunicated members of the "Pietisical Union" who had started to raise questions about a possible conflicts between

9945-653: The Divine Office (cycle of eight non-Mass services in the Catholic faith). In addition to the Hours of the Office , the Byzantine Rite is used for the administration of sacraments ; among these are Holy Communion (the most direct connection), baptism , Chrismation , confession , unction , matrimony , and ordination , as well as blessings , exorcisms , and other occasions. The three divine liturgies of

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10140-600: The Eastern Orthodox Church developed the doctrine of pentarchy as a response. During the 8th and 9th centuries, Byzantium was embroiled in the Iconoclastic persecution . The Photian schism was also 9th century power struggle for the Patriarchate between Ignatios , backed by Pope Nicholas I , and Photios I of Constantinople . The Byzantine Rite is similar to mass in the Catholic Church and

10335-557: The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (modern day Sivas ) is recorded as 320 AD during a persecution by Emperor Licinius . They are mentioned by Basil , Gregory of Nyssa , Ephrem the Syrian and John Chrysostom . In accordance with the traditional custom of the time, the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II allowed his troops and his entourage three full days of unbridled pillage and looting in the Christian city of Constantinople , capital of

10530-722: The Mongols defeated the Abbasid Caliphate in 1258, the Armenians and Nestorians had decent relations with the conquering Il-khans for a time, but by the end of the 14th-century many Syrian Orthodox and Nestorian churches were destroyed when the Turco-Mongolian ruler Temür raided West Asia . Two out of the five centers ( Patriarchates ) of the ancient Pentarchy are in Turkey: Constantinople ( Istanbul ) and Antioch ( Antakya ). Antioch

10725-426: The Ottoman army . They became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical slaves , they were paid regular salaries. Forbidden to marry before the age of 40 or engage in trade, their complete loyalty to the Ottoman sultan was expected. By the seventeenth century, due to a dramatic increase in the size of the Ottoman standing army, the corps' initially strict recruitment policy

10920-612: The Roman Empire since its foundation by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in the 4th century AD, shortly after it was captured in 1453. Once the three days passed, he would then claim its remaining contents for himself. However, by the end of the first day, he proclaimed that the looting should cease as he felt profound sadness when he toured the looted and enslaved city. The cathedral of Hagia Sophia

11115-480: The Rüstem Pasha Mosque , as a memorial supervised by his widow Mihrimah Sultan . It is situated just below the Süleymaniye . This time the central form is octagonal, modelled on the monastery church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus , with four small semi-domes set in the corners. In the same year, Sinan built a türbe for Rüstem Pasha in the garden of the Şehzade Mosque , decorated with the finest tiles Iznik could produce. Mihrimah Sultan, having doubled her wealth after

11310-414: The Seyfo the churches in those churches were destroyed or left ruined. In modern times, Syriac Orthodox Church hase these provinces in Turkey: Historical Church of the East , that followed the East Syriac Rite , was present in various southeastern regions of modern Turkey throughout medieval and early modern times, and the continuation of that presence is embodied in the modern Assyrian Church of

11505-409: The Sublime Porte to submit plans for a bridge spanning the Golden Horn . Mimar Sinan's works are among the most influential buildings in history. Mimar Sinan was born with the name Joseph in a small town called Ağırnas near the city of Kayseri in Anatolia (as stated in an order by Sultan Selim II ). His birth is variously placed either between 1489 and 1491 or between 1494 and 1499. His origin

11700-416: The Sultan Ahmed Mosque and Mimar Hayruddin , architect of the Stari Most . He is considered the greatest architect of the classical period of Ottoman architecture and has been compared to Michelangelo , his contemporary in the West. Michelangelo and his plans for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome were well known in Istanbul, since Leonardo da Vinci and he had been invited, in 1502 and 1505 respectively, by

11895-496: The Syriac Orthodox Church , Syriac Catholic Church , the Church of the East , and the Chaldean Catholic Church ), 3,000–4,000 Greek Orthodox , 15,000–18,000 Antiochian Greeks and smaller numbers of Bulgarians , Georgians , and Protestant Christians of various ethnicities. Moreover, there is an ethnic Turkish Protestant Christian community in Turkey which number about 7,000–8,000 adherents; most of these Christian converts are from Turkish–Muslim background . In 2003,

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12090-441: The Tezkiretü'l Ebniye , during his 50 year tenure of the post of imperial architect Sinan constructed or supervised 476 buildings, 196 of which survive. He could not possibly have designed them all, but relied on the skills of his office. He took credit and the responsibility for their work. As a janissary , and thus a slave of the sultan, his primary responsibility was to the sultan. In his spare time, he also designed buildings for

12285-419: The Turkish Airlines Flight 1476 in 2006 with the stated intent of flying it to the Vatican to meet the Pope and ask for his help to avoid serving in the Turkish Armed Forces , which he referred to as a " Muslim army ". In 2013, the Washington Post reported that members of the ruling Justice and Development Party had expressed their desires to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Hagia Sophia, which

12480-416: The Turkish style . Examples include Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 (c. 1783), Beethoven's incidental music for The Ruins of Athens (1811), and the final movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 , although the Beethoven example is now considered a march rather than Alla turca. Sultan Mahmud II abolished the mehter band in 1826 along with the Janissary corps. Mahmud replaced the mehter band in 1828 with

12675-411: The White Tower of Thessaloniki , as well as Muradie Mosque , during Suleiman the Magnificent's stay in the town for the preparation of his expedition towards Italy . In 1541, he started the construction of the mausoleum ( türbe ) of the Grand Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa . It stands on the shore of Beşiktaş on the European part of Istanbul, at the site where his fleet used to assemble. Oddly enough,

12870-420: The acemi oğlan , as well as avoiding the physical selection, thereby reducing their military value. When Janissaries could practically extort money from the Sultan and business and family life replaced martial fervour, their effectiveness as combat troops decreased. The northern borders of the Ottoman Empire slowly began to shrink southwards after the second Battle of Vienna in 1683. In 1449, they revolted for

13065-413: The dervish saint Haji Bektash Veli , disciples of whom had blessed the first troops. Bektashi Order served as a kind of chaplain for Janissaries. In this and in their secluded life, Janissaries resembled Christian military orders like the Knights Hospitaller . As a symbol of their devotion to the order, Janissaries wore special hats called "börk". These hats also had a holding place in front, called

13260-412: The devşirme because it offered a possibility of social advancement. Conscripts could one day become Janissary colonels, statesmen who might one day return to their home region as governors, or even Grand Viziers or Beylerbeys (governor generals). Some of the most famous Janissaries include George Kastrioti Skanderbeg , an Albanian feudal lord who defected and led a 25‑year Albanian revolt against

13455-404: The devşirme was extended to include Armenians , Bulgarians , Croats , Hungarians , Serbs and later Bosniaks , and, in rare instances, Romanians , Georgians , Circassians , Ukrainians and southern Russians . This "child levy" system was regularly implemented during the 15th-16th centuries, the first two centuries of its existence. Some historians argue this system contributed to

13650-523: The ecclesiastical hierarchy at the First Council of Constantinople in 381 AD. The historical origins of the Patriarchate of Constantinople go back to St. Andrew , Metrophanes and Alexander of Constantinople . Constantinople's primacy over the Patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch was reaffirmed at the Council of Chalcedon in 481, after which the papacy in Rome supported Constantinople in its dispute with Alexandria over monophysitism . Later, when Rome sought to assert its primacy over Byzantium ,

13845-520: The establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923, a number of high-profile incidents targeting non-Muslims , including Christians , have occurred. This includes the Istanbul pogrom of 1955, where non-Muslims were attacked and killed, as well as more recent attacks, such as the assassination of prominent Turkish–Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, the torture and murder of one German Protestant and two Turkish converts to Christianity in what Turkish media dubbed "the missionary massacres" in

14040-582: The fledgling republic . In 2001, Turkey's National Security Council (MGK) reported that it considers Protestant Christian missionaries the third largest threat to Turkey's national security, surpassed only by Islamic fundamentalism and the Kurdish separatist organization Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). A 2004 report by the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) similarly recommended implementing new laws to curb Christian missionary activities in

14235-455: The property rights of non-Muslims . In the pre-war period, Protestant Christian missionaries from North America had been actively involved in the Ottoman education system . Many of the schools were closed down and suffered under stringent regulations and burdensome taxes during the secularization of Turkey . Historically, these schools had worked with the Christian communities in the Ottoman Empire , and were regarded with suspicion by

14430-418: The "kaşıklık", for a spoon. This symbolized the "kaşık kardeşliği", or the "brotherhood of the spoon", which reflected a sense of comradeship among the Janissaries who ate, slept, fought and died together. When a non-Muslim boy was recruited under the devşirme system, he would first be sent to selected Turkish families in the provinces to learn Turkish , the rules of Islam (i.e. to be converted to Islam) and

14625-472: The 1440s. The siege of Vienna in 1529 confirmed the reputation of their engineers, e.g. sappers , and miners . In melee combat, they used axes and kilijs . Originally in peacetime, they could carry only clubs or daggers , unless they served as border troops. Turkish yatagan swords were the signature weapon of the Janissaries, almost a symbol of the corps. Janissaries who guarded the palace (Zülüflü Baltacılar) carried long-shafted axes and halberds . By

14820-538: The 1453 capture of Constantinople , the defeat of the Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo and wars against Hungary and Austria . Janissary troops were always led to the battle by the Sultan himself, and always had a share of the loot . The Janissary corps was the only infantry division of the Ottoman army. In battle the Janissaries' main mission was to protect the Sultan, using cannon and smaller firearms, and holding

15015-545: The 17th century. In response to foreign threats, the Ottoman government chose to rapidly expand the size of the corps after the 1570s. Janissaries spent shorter periods of time in training as acemi oğlan s, as the average age of recruitment increased from 13.5 in the 1490s to 16.6 in 1603. This reflected not only the Ottomans' greater need for manpower but also the shorter training time necessary to produce skilled musketeers in comparison with archers. However, this change alone

15210-416: The 1942 Varlık Vergisi tax levied on non-Muslim citizens in Turkey and the 1955 Istanbul pogrom against Greek and Armenian Christians. Exact numbers are difficult to estimate, as many Turkish former Muslim converts to Christianity often hide their Christian faith for fear of familial pressure, religious discrimination , and persecution . This was due to events which had a significant impact on

15405-679: The 1960s, a growing number of Turkish former Muslims are converting to Christianity ; estimates range from 4,000 to 35,000 by various sources. Martin Kmetec , a Conventual Franciscan friar and current Archbishop of İzmir , stated in an interview with Aid to the Church in Need that ecumenical relations between Christians are generally good in the country: "In general, our relations with other Christian churches are good. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople , Bartholomew I , for example, has

15600-1081: The 19th century, the Christians of Istanbul tended to be either Greek Orthodox , members of the Armenian Apostolic Church or Catholic Levantines . During the tumultuous period of the First World War , up to 3 million indigenous Christians are alleged to have been killed. Prior to this time, the Christian population stood at around 20% -25% of the total. According to professor Martin van Bruinessen , relations between Christians and Kurdish and other Muslim peoples were often bitter and during World War I "Christians of Tur Abdin (in Turkey) for instance have been subjected to brutal treatment by Kurdish tribes, who took their land and even their daughters". Kurdish-dominated Hamidiye slaughtered Christian Armenians in Tur Abdin region in 1915. It

15795-671: The 4th century AD. In 2020 the Anadolu Agency , a state-run news agency of the Turkish government, claimed that the number of Christians in Turkey was 180,854, which corresponds to 0.2% of the population. In a 2022 report of the U.S. Department of State , Christians were seen as being 0.2% of the population. The estimated number of adherents mainly refers to Armenian Orthodox Christians, Armenian Catholics , Chaldean Catholics , Eastern Catholics , Greek Orthodox Christians, Oriental Orthodox Christians, Protestants , and Syriac Orthodox Christians, as well as smaller groups. It

15990-575: The 5th-century Monastery of Stoudios , located in Istanbul's Samatya neighborhood, would be converted into a mosque. The monastery, one of Byzantium 's most important, was sacked during the Crusades and later served as a mosque for a time, until it was converted to a museum during the 20th century. Today, the Christian population of Turkey is estimated at 200,000–320,000 Christians. 35,000 Catholics of varying ethnicities, 25,000 ethnic "Assyrians" ( Turkish : Süryaniler ), (mostly followers of

16185-578: The Armenians. The Greek forces who occupied Smyrna in the post-war period were defeated in the Turkish War of Independence which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne . Under the terms of the peace treaty , 1.3 million Christian residents of Turkey were relocated to Greece and around 400,000 Muslims were likewise moved from Greece to Turkey. When the Turkish state was founded in 1923

16380-613: The Assyrian Church of the East visited Turkey in 2012. Armenian Protestants own 3 churches in Istanbul since the 19th century. There is an Alliance of Protestant Churches in Turkey. There are Protestant churches for foreigners in compounds and resorts, although they are not counted in lists of churches as they are used only by tourists and expatriates. Anglicans in Turkey form part of the Eastern Archdeaconry of

16575-775: The Assyrians also due to fears that the Armenians, or European colonial powers backing them, would assume control in Anatolia. Kurdish military plundered Armenian and other Christian villages. In the 1890s the Hamidiye (Kurdish paramilitary units) attacked Armenians in a series of clashes that culminated in the Hamidian massacres of 1894-1896 and the Adana massacre in 1909. It is estimated that between 80,000 and 300,000 Armenians were killed during these pre-War massacres. Into

16770-586: The Byzantine rite are John Chrysostom 's, Basil 's, and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts . The Catholic Church in Turkey is represented by jurisdictions of Western and Eastern rites. Though the Armenian Apostolic Church was no longer in union with Rome and Byzantium after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, a number of Armenian Christians have converted to Roman Catholicism over

16965-462: The Christian population of Turkey had declined from 20% to 0.2% since 1914. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) designated Turkey a "Country of Particular Concern" for religious freedom , noting "systematic limitations on the freedom of religion or belief" with respect to access to places of worship, religious education, and right to train clergy . The report does note some areas of improvement such as better protection of

17160-521: The East , and the Ancient Church of the East . Ecclesiastical structure of East Syriac Christianity in the region was almost completely wiped out in the Assyrian genocide . Originally, one of its main centers was in the region of Hakkari , in the village of Qodchanis , that was the seat of Shimun-line patriarchs from the 17th century up to the advent of modern times. Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV of

17355-710: The Greek population. Being excommunicated by the Greek Orthodox Church for claiming to be a bishop while still having a wife and due to the fact that married bishops are not allowed in Eastern Orthodoxy , Karahisarithis, who later changed his name into Zeki Erenerol, called a Turkish ecclesiastical congress, which elected him Patriarch in 1924. Constantinople , capital of the Byzantine Empire from 330/395 to 1453 AD, became established in

17550-534: The Hakkari mountains by the Turkish army with the help of Kurdish tribes, and many Christians were deported and about a quarter million Assyrians were murdered or died due to persecution. This number doubles if the killings during the 1890s are included. Kurds saw the Assyrians as dangerous foreigners and enforcers of the British colonizers, which made it justifiable to them to commit ethnic cleansing. The Kurds fought

17745-578: The Ibrahim Pasha School. Possibly, he was given the Islamic name Sinan there. He initially learned carpentry and mathematics but through his intellectual qualities and ambitions, he soon assisted the leading architects and got his training as an architect. During the next six years, he also trained to be a Janissary officer ( acemioğlan ). He possibly joined Selim I in his last military campaign, Rhodes according to some sources, but when

17940-610: The Iskele Mosque, the sultan ordered Sinan to build a new major mosque with an adjoining complex in memory of his favourite son. This Şehzade Mosque would become larger and more ambitious than his previous ones. Architectural historians consider this mosque as Sinan's first masterpiece. Obsessed by the concept of a large central dome, Sinan turned to the plans of mosques such as the Fatih Pasha Mosque in Diyarbakır or

18135-580: The Istanbul Turkish journal Türk Tarihi Encümeni Mecmuası . Godfrey Goodwin stated that "after the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus in 1571, when Selim II decided to repopulate the island by transferring Rum (Orthodox Christian) families from the Karaman Eyalet , Sinan intervened on behalf of his family and obtained two orders from the Sultan in council exempting them from deportation." According to several scholars, this means that his family

18330-460: The Janissaries in favour of a more modern military. The sultan informed them, through a fatwa , that he was forming a new army, organised and trained along modern European lines. As predicted, they mutinied, advancing on the sultan's palace. In the ensuing fight, the Janissaries' barracks were set aflame by artillery fire, resulting in 4,000 Janissary fatalities. The survivors were either exiled or executed, and their possessions were confiscated by

18525-430: The Magnificent is an interesting experiment, with an octagonal body and flat dome. The Selim II Mausoleum with has a square plan and is one of the best examples of Turkish mausoleum architecture. Sinan's own mausoleum, which is located in the north-east part of the Süleymaniye complex on the other hand, is a very plain structure. Sinan masterfully combined art with functionalism in the bridges he built. The largest of these

18720-628: The Ottoman Empire and a foreign state was that of 1535, granted to the Kingdom of France . The Ottoman Empire was then at the height its power, and the French king Francis I had shortly before sustained a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Pavia . His only hope of assistance lay in the Ottoman sultan Suleiman I . The appeal to Suleiman on the ground of the common interest of the Kingdom of France and

18915-628: The Ottoman Empire in overcoming the power of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V overweening power was successful; thus was established the Franco-Ottoman alliance , and in 1536 the capitulations were signed. They amounted to a treaty of commerce and a treaty allowing the establishment of Christian Frenchmen in Ottoman Turkey and fixing the jurisdiction to be exercised over them: individual and religious liberty

19110-468: The Ottoman invaders. The building was desecrated and looted, with the helpless occupants who sought shelter within the church being enslaved . While most of the elderly, the infirm/wounded, and sick were killed, and the remainder (mainly teenage males and young boys) were chained up and sold into slavery . The women of Constantinople also suffered from rape and sexual violence at the hands of Ottoman forces. According to historian Barbaro, "all through

19305-416: The Ottoman military. In the classical period, Janissaries were only one-tenth of the overall Ottoman army, while the traditional Turkish cavalry made up the rest of the main battle force. According to David Nicolle , the number of Janissaries in the 14th century was 1,000 and about 6,000 in 1475. The same source estimates the number of Timarli Sipahi , the provincial cavalry which constituted the main force of

19500-403: The Ottoman states efforts at conversion and "Islamization" of its non-Muslim populations. Radushev states this recruitment system can be bisected into two periods, its first, or classical period, encompassing those first two centuries of regular execution and utilization to supply recruits; and a second period which more focuses on its gradual change, decline, and ultimate abandonment, beginning in

19695-598: The Ottomans . Another was Sokollu Mehmed Paşa , a Bosnian Serb who became a grand vizier, served three sultans, and was the de facto ruler of the Ottoman Empire for more than 14 years. The Janissaries were no exception to the weakening of central imperial authority in the 18th century. Trade and commercial activity replaced the disciplined military service of earlier centuries, and the Janissaries were willing to engage in violent acts of rebellion to protect their private interests in an increasingly decentralized and chaotic Ottoman Empire. The Janissary corps were distinctive in

19890-560: The Piri Pasha Mosque in Hasköy . He must have visited both mosques during his Persian campaign. Sinan built a mosque with a central dome, this time with four equal half-domes. This superstructure is supported by four massive, but still elegant, free-standing octagonal fluted piers and four piers incorporated in each lateral wall. In the corners, above roof level, four turrets serve as stabilizing anchors. This coherent concept already

20085-499: The Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius ), since he too was concerned in building the ideal church, reflecting harmony through the perfection of geometry in architecture. But, contrary to his Western counterparts, Sinan was more interested in simplification than in enrichment. He tried to achieve the largest volume under a single central dome. The dome is based on the circle, the perfect geometrical figure representing, in an abstract way,

20280-527: The Rüstem Pasha Mosque in Tekirdağ . The inner portico traditionally have stalactite capitals while the outer portico has capitals with chevron patterns ( baklava ). When sultan Suleiman the Magnificent returned from another Balkan campaign, he received news that his son Şehzade Mehmed had died at the age of twenty-two. In November 1543, not long after Sinan had started the construction of

20475-599: The Saint himself. The Syriac Orthodox Church has a strong presence in Mardin ; many Assyrian Christians left during the late Ottoman genocides in 1915. Tur Abdin is a large area with a multitude of mostly Syriac Orthodox churches, monasteries, and ruins. Settlements in Tur Abdin include Midyat . The Christian community in Midyat is supplemented by a refugee community from Syria and has four operating churches. Some of

20670-406: The Sultan and they were regarded as the protectors of the throne and the Sultan. Janissaries were taught to consider the corps their home and family, and the Sultan as their father. Only those who proved strong enough earned the rank of true Janissary at the age of 24 or 25. The Odjak inherited the property of dead Janissaries, thus acquiring wealth. Janissaries also learned to follow the dictates of

20865-675: The Sultan died, this project ended. Two years later he witnessed the conquest of Belgrade . Under the new sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent , he was present, as a member of the Household Cavalry, at the Battle of Mohács . He was promoted to captain of the Royal Guard and then given command of the Infantry Cadet Corps. He was later stationed in Austria, where he commanded the 62nd Orta of the Rifle Corps. He became

21060-752: The Sultan. This event is now called the Auspicious Incident . The last of the Janissaries were then put to death by decapitation in what was later called the Tower of Blood , in Thessaloniki . After the Janissaries were disbanded by Mahmud II, he then created a new army soon after recruiting 12,000 troops. This new army was formally named the Trained Victorious Soldiers of Muhammad, the Mansure Army for short. By 1830,

21255-657: The Taṣ Han at Erzurum . He designed a caravanserai in Eregli and an octagonal madrasah in Constantinople. Between 1553 and 1555, Sinan built the Sinan Pasha Mosque at Beşiktaş , a smaller version of the Üç Şerefeli Mosque at Edirne , for the Grand Admiral Sinan Pasha . This proves again that Sinan had thoroughly studied the work of other architects, especially since he was responsible for

21450-532: The Topkapi court received a pay raise as well). Sultan Selim II gave Janissaries permission to marry in 1566, undermining the exclusivity of loyalty to the dynasty. By 1622, the Janissaries were a "serious threat" to the stability of the Empire. Through their "greed and indiscipline", they were now a law unto themselves and, against modern European armies, ineffective on the battlefield as a fighting force. In 1622,

21645-758: The Turkish Orthodox Church, is an unrecognized Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination based in Turkey. It was founded in Kayseri by Pavlos Karahisarithis , a supporter of the General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox ( Turkish : Umum Anadolu Türk Ortodoksları Cemaatleri ), in 1922. Pavlos Karahisarithis became the Patriarch of this new Orthodox church, and took the name of Papa Eftim I. He

21840-629: The Urmia region. After the Russian army retreated, Turkish troops with Kurdish detachments organized mass slaughters of Assyrians, in the Assyrian village of Haftvan 750 men were beheaded and 5,000 Assyrian women were taken to Kurdish harems. Turks and Kurds also slaughtered Christians in Diarbekir. There was a policy during the Hamidian era to use Kurdish tribes as irregulars (Hamidiye units) against

22035-545: The West. The corps was abolished by Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident , in which 6,000 or more were executed. The Janissary force was formed in the fourteenth century, either during the rule of Murad I ( r.  1362–1389 ), the third sultan of the Ottoman Empire , or during the time of Murad's father, Sultan Orhan ( r.   c.  1324  – 1362 ). The Ottoman Turks instituted

22230-654: The admiral is not buried there, but in his türbe next to the Iskele mosque. This mausoleum has been severely neglected since then. Mihrimah Sultan , the only daughter of Suleiman and Hurrem and wife of the Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha gave Sinan the commission to build a mosque with medrese (college), an imaret (soup kitchen) and a sibyan mekteb (Qur'an school) in Üsküdar . The imaret no longer exists. This Iskele Mosque (or Jetty mosque) already shows several hallmarks of Sinan's mature style:

22425-535: The age of 70, he had completed the Süleymaniye Mosque complex. This building, situated on one of the hills of Istanbul facing the Golden Horn, and built in the name of Süleyman the Magnificent, is one of the symbolic monuments of the period. The diameter of the dome, which exceeds the 31 m (102 ft) of the Selimiye Mosque which Sinan completed when he was 80, is the most outstanding example of

22620-605: The age of fifty, he was appointed as chief royal architect, applying the technical skills he had acquired in the army to the "creation of fine religious buildings" and civic structures of all kinds. He remained in this post for almost fifty years. His masterpiece is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne , although his most famous work is the Suleiman Mosque in Istanbul . He headed an extensive governmental department and trained many assistants who, in turn, distinguished themselves; these include Sedefkar Mehmed Agha , architect of

22815-413: The army at 40,000. Beginning in the 1530s, the size of the Janissary corps began to dramatically expand, a result of the rapid conquests the Ottomans were carrying out during those years. Janissaries were used extensively to garrison fortresses and for siege warfare, which was becoming increasingly important for the Ottoman military. The pace of expansion increased after the 1570s, due to the initiation of

23010-808: The army expanded to 27,000 troops and included the Sipahi cavalry. By 1838, all Ottoman fighting corps were included and the army changed its name to the Ordered troops. This military corps lasted until the end of the empire's history. The military music of the Janissaries was noted for its powerful percussion and shrill winds combining kös (giant timpani ), davul (bass drum), zurna (a loud shawm ), naffir , or boru (natural trumpet), çevgan bells , triangle (a borrowing from Europe), and cymbals ( zil ), among others. Janissary music influenced European classical musicians such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven , both of whom composed music in

23205-486: The barracks dressed as a janissary trooper, and received his pay alongside the other men of the First Division. They also served as policemen, palace guards, and firefighters during peacetime. The Janissaries also enjoyed far better support on campaign than other armies of the time. They were part of a well-organized military machine, in which one support corps prepared the roads while others pitched tents and baked

23400-436: The bread. Their weapons and ammunition were transported and re-supplied by the cebeci corps. They campaigned with their own medical teams of Muslim and Jewish surgeons and their sick and wounded were evacuated to dedicated mobile hospitals set up behind the lines. These differences, along with an impressive war-record, made the Janissaries a subject of interest and study by foreigners during their own time. Although eventually

23595-470: The centre of the army against enemy attack during the strategic fake forfeit of Turkish cavalry. The Janissary corps also included smaller expert teams: explosive experts, engineers and technicians, sharpshooters (with arrow and rifle) and sappers who dug tunnels under fortresses, etc. As Janissaries became aware of their own importance, they began to desire a better life. By the early 17th century, Janissaries had such prestige and influence that they dominated

23790-527: The chief officials. He delegated to his assistants the construction of less important buildings in the provinces. Some of his works: Sinan died in AH  996 (1587–88 CE) and is buried in a tomb in Istanbul , a türbe of his own design, just to the north of the Süleymaniye Mosque , across a street named Mimar Sinan Caddesi in his honour. He was buried near the tombs of his greatest patrons: Sultan Süleyman I and Sultana Haseki Hürrem , Suleiman's wife. Above

23985-644: The concept of a modern army incorporated and surpassed most of the distinctions of the Janissaries and the corps was eventually dissolved, the image of the Janissary has remained as one of the symbols of the Ottomans in the western psyche. By the mid-18th century, they had taken up many trades and gained the right to marry and enroll their children in the corps and very few continued to live in the barracks. Many of them became administrators and scholars. Retired or discharged Janissaries received pensions, and their children were also looked after. The first Janissary units were formed from prisoners of war and slaves, probably as

24180-630: The corners at an angle of 45 degrees. Clearly, Sinan must have appreciated this form, since he repeated it later in mosques such as the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque at Kadırga and the Atik Valide Mosque at Üsküdar . In 1556, Sinan built the Haseki Hürrem Sultan Hamamı , replacing the antique Baths of Zeuxippus , which are still standing close to the Hagia Sophia . This would become one of

24375-633: The corps was organized and led by a commander, the ağa . The corps was divided into three sub-corps: In addition there were also 34 orta s of the ajemi (cadets). A semi-autonomous Janissary corps was permanently based in Algiers , called the Odjak of Algiers . Originally Janissaries could be promoted only through seniority and within their own orta . They could leave the unit only to assume command of another. Only Janissaries' own commanding officers could punish them. The rank names were based on positions in

24570-525: The country's demographic structure, such as the First World War , the anti-Christian genocides of Greeks , Armenians , and Assyrians perpetrated by Turkish Muslims , and the population exchange between Greece and Turkey , and the emigration of persecuted Christians (such as Assyrians , Greeks , Armenians , etc.) to foreign countries (mostly in Europe and the Americas ) that actually began in

24765-402: The country. According to the Turkish Evangelical Churches movement, Turkish Protestant churches had only 3,000 members in 2009—about half of these were former Muslim converts to Christianity , while the others were Christian converts from Armenian Orthodox and Syriac Christian churches. Since Turkish nationality was often perceived exclusively as a Muslim identity after the Balkan Wars ,

24960-614: The customs and cultures of Ottoman society. After completing this period, acemi (new recruit) boys were gathered for training at the Enderun "acemi oğlan" school in the capital city. There, young cadets would be selected for their talents in different areas to train as engineers, artisans, riflemen, clerics, archers, artillery, and so forth. Janissaries trained under strict discipline with hard labour and in practically monastic conditions in acemi oğlan ("rookie" or "cadet") schools, where they were expected to remain celibate . Unlike other Muslims, they were expressly forbidden to wear beards, only

25155-431: The day the Turks made a great slaughter of Christians through the city". According to historian Philip Mansel , widespread persecution of the city's civilian inhabitants took place, resulting in thousands of murders and rapes, and 30,000 civilians being enslaved or forcibly deported. George Sphrantzes says that people of both sexes were raped inside the church of Hagia Sophia. The first capitulation concluded between

25350-468: The death of her husband, now wanted a mosque of her own. Sinan built the Mihrimah Mosque at Edirnekapı (Edirne Gate) for her on the highest of the seven hills of Constantinople. He raised the mosque on a vaulted platform, accentuating its hilltop site. There is some speculation concerning the dates; until recently this was supposed to be between 1540 and 1540, but now it is generally accepted to be between 1562 and 1565. Sinan, concerned with grandeur, built

25545-415: The decline of Rome and internal dissension in the other Eastern Patriarchates, the Church of Constantinople became, between the 6th and 11th centuries, the richest and most influential centre of Christendom . The Eastern Orthodox Church split from Rome during the Great Schism of 1054. With the arrival of the crusaders many Orthodox bishops, particularly in Antioch, were replaced by Latin prelates . After

25740-494: The early 16th century, the Janissaries were equipped with and were skilled with muskets . In particular, they used a massive "trench gun", firing an 80-millimetre (3.1 in) ball, which was "feared by their enemies". Janissaries also made extensive use of early grenades and hand cannons , such as the abus gun . Pistols were not initially popular, but they became so after the Cretan War (1645–1669) . The Ottoman Empire used Janissaries in all its major campaigns, including

25935-434: The first time, demanding higher wages, which they obtained. The stage was set for a decadent evolution, like that of the Streltsy of Tsar Peter 's Russia or that of the Praetorian Guard which proved the greatest threat to Roman emperors, rather than effective protection. After 1451, every new Sultan felt obligated to pay each Janissary a reward and raise his pay rank (although since early Ottoman times, every other member of

26130-527: The flow of supplies within the Ottoman Empire. He was also responsible for the design and construction of public works, such as roads, waterworks and bridges. Through the years he transformed his office into that of Architect of the Empire, an elaborate government department, with greater powers than his supervising minister. He became the head of a whole Corps of architects, training a team of assistants, deputies and pupils. His training as an army engineer gave Sinan an empirical approach to architecture rather than

26325-401: The government. They could mutiny, dictate policy, and hinder efforts to modernize the army structure. Additionally, the Janissaries found they could change Sultans as they wished through palace coups . New rules allowed them to own land and establish businesses. They would also limit the enlistment of new Janissaries to their own sons who did not have to go through the original training period in

26520-480: The influence of Protestant Christian missionaries on Turkey's Alevi population has been a concern since the era of Committee of Union and Progress rule. In 2016, the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey released a report warning of an increase in anti-Christian hate speech . Historically, the Christian population of Turkey has been largely peaceful and non-disruptive, with the notable exception of one former Muslim convert to Christianity who hijacked

26715-403: The interior with light. The style of this revolutionary building was as close to the Gothic style as Ottoman structure permits. In 1566 Sinan completed the Banya Bashi Mosque in Sofia , Bulgaria , currently the only functioning mosque in the city. His first mosque in Sofia was built in 1528; popularly known as Imaret Mosque or Black Mosque due to the dark colour of its building stone, it

26910-441: The iron-grilled prayer window of his tomb is an epitaph written in Ottoman Turkish by the poet Mustafa Sai. It gives the year of his death and records that Sinan built 400 masjids (small mosques), 80 Friday mosques and the Kanuni Sultan Suleiman bridge at Büyükçekmece . In the position of chief imperial architect he was succeeded by Davud Agha , one of the architects who had worked under him. In 1935, his remains were exhumed by

27105-446: The janissaries became a reactionary force that resisted all change within the Ottoman army. Steadily the Ottoman military power became outdated, but when the janissaries felt their privileges were being threatened, or outsiders wanted to modernize them, or they might be superseded by their cavalry rivals , they would rise in rebellion. By the time the janissaries were suppressed, it was too late for Ottoman military power to catch up with

27300-413: The kitchen staff or Sultan's royal hunters; 64th and 65th Orta 'Greyhound Keepers' comprised as the only Janissary cavalry, perhaps to emphasise that Janissaries were servants of the Sultan. Local Janissaries, stationed in a town or city for a long time, were known as yerliyyas . Even though the Janissaries were part of the royal army and personal guards of the sultan, the corps was not the main force of

27495-406: The largest dome in the world, leaving Hagia Sophia behind. In fact, the dome height from the ground level was lower and the diameter barely larger (0.5 meters, approximately 2 feet) than the millennium-older Hagia Sophia. However, measured from its base the dome of Selimiye is higher. Sinan was more than 80 years old when the building was finished. In this mosque he finally realized his aim of creating

27690-876: The late 19th century and gained pace in the first quarter of the 20th century, especially during World War I . Signed after the WW1, the Treaty of Lausanne explicitly guarantees the security and protection of both Greek and Armenian Orthodox Christian minorities. Their religious institutions are being recognized officially by the Republic of Turkey. In 2011 according to the Pew Research Center , there were more than 200,000-320,000 people of different Christian denominations in Turkey, representing roughly 0.3-0.4 percent of Turkey's population, including an estimated 80,000 population of Oriental Orthodox Christians, 47,000 Turkish Orthodox Christians, 35,000 Roman Catholic Christians, 18,000 Antiochian Greeks , 5,000 Greek Orthodox Christians, 8,000 Protestant Christians, 4,994 Jehovah's Witnesses , and 512 Mormons . There

27885-415: The lateral galleries far away, he increased the three-dimensional effect. The many windows in the screen walls flood the interior with light. The buttressing semi-domes are set in the four corners of the square under the dome. The weight and the internal tensions are hidden, producing an airy and elegant effect rarely seen under a central dome. The four minarets (83 m high) at the corners of the prayer hall are

28080-462: The level of achievement reached by Sinan. Mimar Sinan reached his artistic peak with the design, architecture, tile decorations and land stone workmanship displayed at Selimiye. Another area of architecture where Sinan produced unique designs are his mausoleums. The Mausoleum of Şehzade Mehmed is notable for with its exterior decorations and sliced dome. The Rüstem Paşa mausoleum is a very attractive structure in classical style. The mausoleum of Süleyman

28275-410: The library of Topkapı Palace , dictated by Sinan to his friend and biographer Mustafa Sâi Çelebi. In these manuscripts, Sinan divulges some details of his youth and military career. His father is referred to as "Abdülmennan" (literally " Servant of the Generous and Merciful One "), a title which was commonly used in the Ottoman period to define the non-Muslim father of a Muslim convert. In 1512, Sinan

28470-621: The main centers of miaphisite Christianity, embodied in the Oriental Orthodoxy , which had accepted only the first three ecumenical councils : Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381) and Ephesus (431). Miaphisite Christians were strongly opposed to Chalcedonian Creed that had been established by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the Syriac Orthodox Church that originated in Antioch continued to fracture into multiple denominations. Some Armenian miaphysite Christians sought to reunite with Rome in later centuries, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Constantinople

28665-450: The mainstream Turkish newspaper Milliyet reported that 35,000 Turkish former Muslims had converted to Christianity . According to Bekir Bozdağ , Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey , there were 349 active churches in Turkey in October 2012: 140 Greek , 58 Assyrian , and 52 Armenian . In 2015, the Turkish government gave permission for the Christian channel SAT-7 to broadcast on the government-regulated Türksat satellite. Since

28860-415: The most beautiful hamams he ever constructed. In 1559, he built the Cafer Ağa madrasah below the forecourt of the Hagia Sophia. In the same year he began the construction of a small mosque for Iskender Pasha at Kanlıca , beside the Bosphorus. This was one of the many minor and routine commissions the office of Sinan received over the years. In 1561, when Rüstem Pasha died, Sinan began the construction of

29055-451: The most significant Syriac churches and monasteries in existence are in or near Midyat including Mor Gabriel Monastery and the Saffron Monastery . By the 21st century, Greek Orthodox Christians in Turkey had declined to only around 2,000–3,000. There are between 40,000 and 70,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians in Turkey . By some estimates, in the early 2000s there were between 10,000 and 20,000 Catholics and Protestants in Turkey. Since

29250-431: The notorious Seven Towers : he was murdered shortly afterward. The extravagant parties of the Ottoman ruling classes during the Tulip Period caused a lot of unrest among the Ottoman population. In September 1730, janissaries headed by Patrona Halil backed in Istanbul a rebellion by 12,000 Albanian troops which caused the abdication of Sultan Ahmed III and the death of the Grand Vizier Damad Ibrahim . The rebellion

29445-682: The opening of the Suleymaniye Mosque), 50 lira 1988 (400th anniversary of Sinan's death) and a set of 4 issued on 14 November 2007 (60, 70, 70 & 80 Kurus - Sinan and his works). Sinan is portrayed in Elif Shafak 's 2013 novel The Architect's Apprentice , with the fictional main character becoming his apprentice. Sinan, also called Mimar Sinan ("Architect Sinan") or Mimar Koca Sinan ("Great Architect Sinan") (born c. 1490, Ağırnaz, Turkey—died July 17, 1588, Constantinople [now Istanbul]), Janissary A janissary ( Ottoman Turkish : یڭیچری , romanized :  yeŋiçeri , [je.ˈŋi.t͡ʃe.ɾ̞i] , lit.   ' new soldier ' )

29640-412: The optimum, completely unified, domed interior: a triumph of space that dominates the interior. He used this time an octagonal central dome (31.28 m wide and 42 m high), supported by eight elephantine piers of marble and granite. These supports lack any capitals but have squinches or consoles at their summit, leading to the optical effect that the arches seem to grow integrally out of the piers. By placing

29835-450: The others, to be built on a gently sloping hillside dominating the Golden Horn . Money was no problem, since he had accumulated a treasure from the loot of his campaigns in Europe and the Middle East. He gave the order to Sinan to build a mosque, the Süleymaniye , surrounded by a külliye consisting of four colleges, a soup kitchen, a hospital, an asylum, a hamam , a caravanserai and a hospice for travellers ( tabhane ). Sinan, now heading

30030-489: The period of the siege of Constantinople , the trapped Christian worshippers of the city participated in the Divine Liturgy and the Prayer of the Hours at the Hagia Sophia and the church formed a safe-haven and a refuge for many of those who were unable to contribute to the city's defence, which comprised women, children, elderly, the sick, and the wounded. Being trapped in the church, the many congregants and yet more refugees inside became spoils-of-war to be divided amongst

30225-430: The plans and gave instructions for many other constructions. Sinan built a mosque for the Grand Vizier Pargalı İbrahim Pasha and a mausoleum ( türbe ) at Silivrikapı (Constantinople) in 1551. The next Grand Vizier, Rüstem Pasha gave Sinan several more commissions. In 1550 he built a large inn ( han ) in the Galata district of Istanbul. About ten years later he built another han in Edirne , and between 1544 and 1561

30420-406: The position of chief architect of the palace, which meant being the overseer of all construction work of the Ottoman Empire, for nearly 50 years, working with a large team of assistants consisting of architects and master builders. The development and maturing stages of Sinan's career can be illustrated by three major works. The first two of these are in Istanbul: the Şehzade Mosque , which he calls

30615-588: The previous 300 years. According to paintings of the era, they were also permitted to grow beards. Consequently, the formerly strict rules of succession became open to interpretation. While they advanced their own power, the Janissaries also helped to keep the system from changing in other progressive ways, and according to some scholars the corps shared responsibility for the political stagnation of Istanbul. Greek historian Dimitri Kitsikis in his book Türk Yunan İmparatorluğu ("Turco-Greek Empire") states that many Bosnian Christian families were willing to comply with

30810-402: The prototype of its successors. Anglican , American Presbyterian , and German Lutheran missionaries arrived in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. During the same period, there were nationalistic campaigns against Assyrians which often had the assistance of Kurdish paramilitary support. In 1915, Turks and Kurds massacred tens of thousands Assyrians in Siirt. Assyrians were attacked in

31005-671: The religious foundation in Istanbul and its surrounding areas. Besides Surp Asdvadzadzin Patriarchal Church (translation: the Holy Mother-of-God Armenian Patriarchal Church) in Kumkapi, Istanbul, there are tens of Armenian Apostolic churches. There are other churches in Kayseri , Diyarbakır , Derik , İskenderun , and Vakifli Koyu that are claimed by foundations as well. Around 1,000 Armenian churches throughout Turkey sit on public or privately owned land as well, with them all either being re-purposed or abandoned and/or in ruins. The Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate ( Turkish : Bağımsız Türk Ortodoks Patrikhanesi ), also referred to as

31200-434: The remaining Greek population was estimated to be around 111,000; the Greek Orthodox communities in Istanbul, Gökçeada , and Bozcaada numbering 270,000 were exempted. Other terms of the treaty included various provisions to protect the rights of religious minorities and a concession by the Turks to allow the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate to remain in Istanbul. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported in 2014 that

31395-405: The resolution of the tensions created by the design. He was an innovator in the use of decoration and motifs, merging them into the architectural forms as a whole. He accentuated the centre underneath the central dome by flooding it with light from the many windows. He incorporated his mosques in an efficient way into a complex ( külliye ), serving the needs of the community as an intellectual centre,

31590-404: The rest of his design, transforming the circle of the dome into a rectangular, hexagonal or octagonal system. He tried to obtain a rational harmony between the exterior pyramidal composition of semi-domes, culminating in a single drumless dome, and the interior space where this central dome vertically integrates the space into a unified whole. His genius lies in the organization of this space and in

31785-448: The ruling classes of the Ottoman Empire, rivalling the Turkish aristocracy. The brightest of the Janissaries were sent to the palace institution, Enderun . Through a system of meritocracy , the Janissaries held enormous power, stopping all efforts to reform the military. According to military historian Michael Antonucci and economic historians Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane, the Turkish administrators would scour their regions (but especially

31980-432: The sacred Imperial Palace where the Emperors lived, the Hippodrome , the Golden Gate of the Land Walls, and opulent aristocratic palaces. The University of Constantinople was founded in the fifth century and contained artistic and literary treasures before it was sacked in 1204 and 1453, including its vast Imperial Library which contained the remnants of the Library of Alexandria and had 100,000 volumes. The city

32175-413: The same way as with the Ottoman's Janissaries who had to replace the unreliable ghazis . They were initially created as a counterbalance to the tribal, ethnic and favoured interests the Qizilbash gave, which make a system imbalanced. In the late 16th century, a sultan gave in to the pressures of the Corps and permitted Janissary children to become members of the Corps, a practice strictly forbidden for

32370-440: The same year, and the killings of Italian Catholic priests, including Andrea Santoro , in 2006 and 2007. In January 2024, two gunmen fatally shot a man during a church service in Istanbul in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (ISIL). The largest Christian population in Turkey is located in Istanbul , which has a large community of Armenians and Greeks. Istanbul is also where the Patriarchate of Greek Orthodox Christianity

32565-424: The soldiers faithful to the sultan. The social status of devşirme recruits took on an immediate positive change, acquiring a greater guarantee of governmental rights and financial opportunities. In poor areas officials were bribed by parents to make them take their sons, thus they would have better chances in life. Initially the recruiters favoured Greeks and Albanians . As borders of the Ottoman Empire expanded,

32760-404: The system from changing in other progressive ways. Even after the rapid expansion of the size of the corps at the end of the sixteenth century, the Janissaries continued to undergo strict training and discipline. The Janissaries experimented with new forms of battlefield tactics, and in 1605 became one of the first armies in Europe to implement rotating lines of volley fire in battle. The corps

32955-401: The tallest in the Muslim world, accentuating the vertical posture of this mosque that already dominates the city. He also designed the Sulaymaniyya Takiyya in Damascus , Syria, considered to have marked the introduction of the Ottoman architectural style to the city. He has also built Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge across the Drina River in Višegrad , Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is now

33150-413: The teenage Sultan Osman II , after a defeat during war against Poland, determined to curb Janissaries' excesses. Outraged at becoming "subject to his own slaves", he tried to disband the Janissary corps, blaming it for the disaster during the Polish war. In the spring, hearing rumours that the Sultan was preparing to move against them, the Janissaries revolted and took the Sultan captive, imprisoning him in

33345-551: The traditionally Neo-Aramaic area of Tur Abdin , which is a region centered in the western area of Mardin Province , and has areas that go into Şırnak , and Batman Province . Up until the 1980s the Syriac population was concentrated there as well, but a large amount of the population has fled the region to Istanbul or abroad due to the Kurdish-Turkish conflict . The Church structure is still organized however, with 12 reverends stationed in churches and monasteries there. Churches were also in several other provinces as well, but during

33540-410: The traditions by adding innovations, trying to approach perfection. During these years he continued the traditional pattern of Ottoman architecture, but he gradually began exploring other possibilities, because during his military career he had had the opportunity to study the architectural monuments in the conquered cities of Europe and the Middle East. His first opportunity to design a major building

33735-433: The unnecessary subsidiary spaces beyond the supporting piers of the central dome. This can be seen in the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque in Kadırga, Istanbul (1571–1572) and in the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. In other buildings of his final period, Sinan experimented with spatial and mural treatments that were new in the classical Ottoman architecture. According to him from his autobiography Tezkiretü'l-Bünyan , his masterpiece

33930-429: The upkeep of these buildings. He copied the old form, pondered over the weaknesses in the construction and tried to solve this with his own solution. In 1554, Sinan used the form of the Sinan Pasha mosque again for the construction of the mosque for the next Grand Vizier Kara Ahmet Pasha in Constantinople, his first hexagonal mosque. By using a hexagonal plan, Sinan could reduce the side domes to half-domes and set them in

34125-481: The water supply system of Istanbul, he built arched aqueducts at several locations within the city. The Mağlova Arch over the Alibey River, which is 257 m (843 ft) long and 35 m (115 ft) high, has two tiers of arches, and is one of the best examples of its kind. At the start of Sinan's career, Ottoman architecture was highly pragmatic. Buildings were repetitions of former types and were based on rudimentary plans. They were more an assembly of parts than

34320-447: The wife of the sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent . He had to follow the plans drawn by his predecessors. Sinan retained the traditional arrangement of the available space without any innovations. Nevertheless, it was already better built than the Aleppo mosque and it shows a certain elegance. However, it has suffered from many restorations. Sinan is credited to have built a defensive tower in Vlorë , south Albania , in 1537, very similar to

34515-692: The years. After the Ottoman sultan Mahmud II extended formal recognition to Roman Catholics, an Armenian Catholic Patriarchate was established in Constantinople. The Syriac Orthodox Church , that follows the West Syriac Rite , was present in various southeastern regions of modern Turkey since the early medieval times. Since the 12th century, the patriarchal seat itself was transferred to Mor Hananyo Monastery (Deir al-Za`faran), in southeastern Anatolia near Mardin (modern Turkey), where it remained until 1924. In modern times, active churches are located in Istanbul , Diyarbakır , Adıyaman , and Elazığ . There are many both active and inactive churches in

34710-445: Was Cappadocian Greek because the only Orthodox Christians ( Rûms ) of the region were Greek-speaking. Sinan's place of birth, Ağırnas , was a Greek village with no Armenian inhabitants, which some scholars argue would give more credence to the theory of him being of Greek origin. Additionally, before the Greeks evacuated the village, a Cappadocian Greek family from the village named Taşçıoğlu ( Greek : Ταστσιόγλου) had claimed Sinan as

34905-462: Was Christian Turkish . In 1935, a council commissioned by the Turkish Historical Society went so far as to open up Sinan's tomb and measure his skull so as demonstrate his Turkish "racial" heritage. Sinan grew up helping his father in his work, and by the time that he was conscripted would have had a good grounding in the practicalities of building work. There are three brief records (Anonymous Text; Architectural Masterpieces; Book of Architecture) in

35100-425: Was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan 's household troops. They were the first modern standing army , and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms , adopted during the reign of Murad II . The corps was established under either Sultans Orhan or Murad I , and dismantled by Mahmud II in 1826. Janissaries began as elite corps made up through

35295-415: Was also the place where the followers of Jesus were called "Christians" for the first time in history, as well as being the site of one of the earliest and oldest surviving churches , established by Saint Peter himself. For a thousand years, the Hagia Sophia was the largest church in the world . Turkey is also home to the Seven Churches of Asia , where the Revelation to John was sent. Apostle John

35490-409: Was conscripted into Ottoman service under the devshirme system. He was sent to Constantinople to be trained as an officer of the Janissary Corps and converted to Islam. He was too old to be admitted to the imperial Enderun School in the Topkapı Palace but was sent instead to an auxiliary school. Some records claim that he might have served the Grand Vizier Pargalı İbrahim Pasha as a novice of

35685-454: Was crushed in three weeks with the massacre of 7,000 rebels, but it marked the end of the Tulip Era and the beginning of Sultan Mahmud I 's reign. In 1804, the Dahias, the Janissary junta that ruled Serbia at the time, having taken power in the 'l Sanjak of Smederevo in defiance of the Sultan, feared that the Sultan would make use of the Serbs to oust them. To forestall this they decided to execute all prominent nobles throughout Central Serbia,

35880-411: Was damaged by an earthquake and abandoned in the 19th century. In the 1560s he built the Kirkcesme water supply system for Istanbul. It is seen as a masterpiece of his work. It spans 55 km and includes 35 aqueduct bridges , 4 of which are notable for their height (up to 35m) as well as their length (up to 700m). Between 1560 and 1566 Sinan built a mosque in Constantinople for Zal Mahmud Pasha on

36075-417: Was given the title Haseki'i , Sergeant-at-Arms in the body guard of the Sultan, a rank equivalent to that of the Janissary Ağa. When Chelebi Lütfi Pasha became Grand Vizier in 1539, he appointed Sinan, who had previously served under his command, to the office of Architect of the Abode of Felicity. This was the start of a remarkable career. The job entailed the supervision infrastructure construction and

36270-401: Was guaranteed to them, the King of France was empowered to appoint consuls in Ottoman Turkey, the consuls were recognized as competent to judge the civil and criminal affairs of French subjects in Ottoman Turkey according to French law , and the consuls may appeal to the officers of the sultan for their aid in the execution of their sentences. This, the first of the capitulations, can be seen as

36465-425: Was not enough to produce the necessary manpower, and consequently the traditional limitation of recruitment to boys conscripted in the devşirme was lifted. Membership was opened up to free-born Muslims, both recruits hand-picked by the commander of the Janissaries, as well as the sons of current members of the Ottoman standing army. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the devşirme had largely been abandoned as

36660-430: Was not exempted from the pillage and looting and specifically became its focal point, as the Ottoman Turks believed it to contain the greatest treasures and valuables of the city. Shortly after the defence of the Walls of Constantinople , the city collapsed and the Ottoman troops entered victoriously; the pillagers and looters made their way to the Hagia Sophia and battered down its doors before storming in. Throughout

36855-483: Was noted that the number of Eastern Orthodox Christians had risen sharply, mainly due to refugees from Russia and Ukraine . In 2024, Freedom House rated the country 2 out of 4 for religious freedom ; this was mainly due to disputes over land. The Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox church , opened in October 2023, was the first church built since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey. The Christianization of ancient Assyrians and Armenians most likely began around

37050-409: Was organized into ortas (literally, "centers"). An orta (equivalent to a battalion ) was headed by a çorbaci . All orta s together comprised the Janissary corps proper and its organization, named ocak (literally, "hearth"). Suleiman I had 165 orta s and the number increased over time to 196. While the Sultan was the supreme commander of the Ottoman Army and of the Janissaries in particular,

37245-429: Was promoted to chief architect and was given the privilege of tearing down any buildings in the captured city that were not according to the city plan. During the campaign in the East, he assisted in the building of defences and bridges, such as a bridge across the Danube . He converted churches into mosques. During the Persian campaign in 1535 he built ships for the army and the artillery to cross Lake Van . For this he

37440-413: Was relaxed. Civilians bought their way into it in order to benefit from the improved socio-economic status it conferred upon them. Consequently, the corps gradually lost its military character, undergoing a process that has been described as "civilianization". The janissaries were a formidable military unit in the early centuries, but as Western Europe modernized its military organization and technology,

37635-539: Was supported by 72 other Turkish Orthodox clerics. The start of the Patriarchate can be traced to the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). In 1922 a pro-Turkish Eastern Orthodox group, the General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox, was set up with the support from the Orthodox bishop of Havza , as well as a number of other congregations representing a genuine movement among the Turkish-speaking, Orthodox Christian population of Anatolia who wished to remain both Orthodox and Turkish. There were calls to establish

37830-420: Was the Hüsrev Pasha Mosque and its double medresse in Aleppo , Syria. It was built in the winter of 1536-1537 for his commander-in-chief and the governor of Aleppo between two army campaigns. It was built hastily and this is evident in the coarseness of execution and the crude decoration. His first major commission as the royal architect was the construction of the Haseki Sultan Complex for Hurrem Sultan ,

38025-416: Was the home of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and guardian of Christendom 's holiest relics such as the Crown of thorns and the True Cross . During most of its existence, the Byzantine Empire was one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in Europe. The imperial role in the affairs of the Church never developed into a fixed, legally defined system. Additionally, due to

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