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226-411: The mosque has a classical Ottoman layout with a central dome surrounded by four semi-domes over the prayer hall. It is fronted by a large courtyard and flanked by six minarets . On the inside, it is decorated with thousands of Iznik tiles and painted floral motifs in predominantly blue colours, which give the mosque its popular name. The mosque's külliye (religious complex) includes Ahmed's tomb,

452-406: 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

678-629: A madrasa , and several other buildings in various states of preservation. The mosque was built next to the former Hippodrome and stands across from the Hagia Sophia , another popular tourist site. The Blue Mosque was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1985 under the name of " Historic Areas of Istanbul ". After the Peace of Zsitvatorok , seen as a blow to Ottoman prestige, Sultan Ahmed I decided to build

904-959: A takkiya in Arabic or tekke in Turkish , catered to Sufi brotherhoods and were a new type of institution that the Ottomans introduced to these regions. For Rüstem Pasha, Suleiman's grand vizier and son-in-law, Sinan also built the Rüstem Pasha Madrasa in Istanbul (1550), with an octagonal floor plan, and several caravanserais including the Rüstem Pasha Han in Galata (1550), the Rüstem Pasha Han in Ereğli (1552),

1130-474: A "palace department of buildings" or "corps of royal architects" ( khāṣṣa mi'mārları ). The first documented references to this department date from the reign of Bayezid II (r. 1481–1512). It grew from 13 architects in 1525 to 39 architects by 1604. Many of the architects and bureaucrats were recruited from the Christian population of the empire through the devshirme system. The long reign of Suleiman

1356-652: A Muslim place of worship. Having removed his shoes, the Pope paused for a full two minutes, eyes closed in silent meditation, standing side by side with Mustafa Çağrıcı, the Mufti of Istanbul, and Emrullah Hatipoğlu, the Imam of the Blue Mosque. The pope “thanked divine Providence for this” and said, “May all believers identify themselves with the one God and bear witness to true brotherhood.” The pontiff noted that Turkey “will be

1582-404: A Sinan-designed mosque far from Istanbul, and has local Syrian influences such as the use of ablaq masonry, reused in part from an earlier Mamluk palace. Sinan did not visit Damascus for the project – though he had been there previously with Sultan Selim's army – and the architect in charge of construction work was Mimar Todoros, who most likely used local masons and craftsmen. As the site

1808-541: A bridge of friendship and collaboration between East and West”, and he thanked the Turkish people “for the cordiality and sympathy” they showed him throughout his stay, saying, “he felt loved and understood.” (See also: Ottoman architectural decoration ) Classical Ottoman architecture Classical Ottoman architecture is a period in Ottoman architecture generally including the 16th and 17th centuries. The period

2034-417: A cemetery with several mausoleums (of varying dates), and a small mektep. The tomb of Şehzade Mehmed, originally the only mausoleum in the cemetery, is among the most beautiful tombs designed by Sinan. Its design is similar to that of Selim I's tomb, with octagonal form and an entrance porch, but the decoration is more luxurious. On the exterior, the marble covering is enhanced with breccia and terracotta,

2260-491: 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,

2486-409: A completely unified interior space and for ways to emphasize the visitor's perception of the main dome upon entering a mosque. One of the results of this logic was that any space that did not belong to the central domed space was reduced to a minimum, subordinate role, if not altogether absent. The other buildings of the Şehzade Mosque complex include a madrasa, a tabhane , a caravanserai, an imaret,

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2712-407: 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

2938-482: A covered ramp leading up to two rooms where the sultan could retire to rest, along with an enclosed portico or balcony on the south side overlooking the sea. These retiring rooms became the headquarters of the Grand Vizier during the suppression of the rebellious Janissary Corps in 1826. This auxiliary structure, which is awkwardly integrated into the overall mosque design, is an innovation that appears here for

3164-524: 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

3390-457: A gift from the Signoria of Venice , following a request from Ahmed I in 1610. Most of these original windows have been lost and since replaced with less elaborate modern windows. The modern windows probably make the mosque's interior today brighter than the original stained glass windows would have. The mosque is further illuminated by chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The many lamps inside

3616-460: 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

3842-462: 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

4068-522: A large mosque in Istanbul in the hope of soliciting God's favour. He was the first sultan to build an imperial mosque since Selim II (d. 1574), as both Murad III and Mehmed III before him had neglected to construct their own. The mosque was built on the southeast side of the old Byzantine Hippodrome , near the Hagia Sophia (the most important mosque of the Ottoman Empire), a site of significant symbolic significance that allows it to dominate

4294-425: A larger square baldaquin structure in which the weight of the dome is focused on four corner buttresses. The walls between the four buttresses are filled with numerous windows framed inside large arches, creating an unusually light-filled interior. For much of his career Sinan also experimented with variations of a "hexagonal baldaquin" design, a design that was uncommon in world architecture. He used this model in

4520-423: A library, a hammam (bathhouse), shops, a cemetery with the founder's mausoleum, and eight madrasas along with their annexes. Unfortunately, much of the mosque was destroyed by an earthquake in 1766, causing it to be largely rebuilt by Mustafa III in a significantly altered form shortly afterwards. The original design of the mosque, drawing on the ideas established by the earlier Üç Şerefeli Mosque, consisted of

4746-671: A little later). The Tomb of Hürrem Sultan has a standard form but contains excellent Iznik tiles of the period. The Tomb of Suleiman is one of the largest Ottoman mausoleums and is surrounded by a peristyle portico with a sloping eave . Its design is sometimes compared to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and it may have been modeled on the latter. The structure is built in high-quality stone and Sinan designed its details to make it stand out from other Ottoman mausoleums. Rich Iznik tile panels adorn

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4972-579: 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

5198-502: 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

5424-441: A model of the mosque and a model of a galley , noted by 17th and 18th century writers. On the outside, Mehmed Agha used the cascade of domes and semi-domes, combined with more curved and multi-tiered supported elements, to create a softer profile that builds up smoothly towards the summit of the central dome, much like he did with the interior. This approach differs slightly from that of Sinan and earlier Ottoman architects, who used

5650-465: 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

5876-437: 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

6102-591: A novice of 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

6328-473: 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

6554-588: 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

6780-518: A range of colours including blue, green, red, black, and turquoise. Nearly 75 percent of the mosque's walls, above the level of the tilework, are decorated with painted motifs. The predominant colour of this paintwork is blue, one of the reasons for the mosque's popular name, though much of it has since been replaced with modern imitations of the original 16th/17th-century style. The painted motifs generally consist of floral arabesques . Other motifs include calligraphic inscriptions, including verses from

7006-589: A rectangular courtyard with a surrounding gallery leading to a domed prayer hall. The prayer hall consisted of a large central dome with a semi-dome behind it and flanked by a row of three smaller domes on either side. The design reflected the influence of the Byzantine-built Hagia Sophia combined with the Ottoman imperial mosque tradition that had evolved in Bursa and Edirne. The Bayezid II Mosque in Istanbul, built between 1500 and 1505,

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7232-426: A rectangular prayer hall. The prayer hall's interior is notable for being completely dominated by a single massive dome, whose view is unimpeded by the structural elements seen in other large domed mosques before this. This design is the culmination of Sinan's spatial experiments, making use of the octagonal baldaquin as the most effective method of integrating the round dome with the rectangular hall below by minimizing

7458-418: A single large courtyard, which in turn is connected to another courtyard situated on a lower level which served as the madrasa of the complex. Both courtyards are planted with trees which give them the appearance of a garden. Across the street from the mosque and madrasa is a structure composed of many courtyards and domed chambers across a large area, which include the tabhane , the imaret, the darüşşifa , and

7684-495: A softer progression from the rectangular outer walls to the round central dome. A two-floor gallery, supported on columns, runs along three sides of the prayer hall, except for the southeastern (or qibla) side, where the mihrab is located. Two fountains are incorporated into the two northern pillars of the mosque, similar to the Süleymaniye Mosque 's prayer hall. The floors are covered with carpets, which are donated by

7910-518: 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

8136-579: A square courtyard leading to a square prayer hall. The prayer hall is roofed by a central dome with two semi-domes in front and behind it, while two side aisles are each covered by four smaller domes. Compared to earlier mosques, this resulted in a much more sophisticated "cascade of domes" effect for the building's exterior profile, likely reflecting influences from the Hagia Sophia and the Fatih Mosque. The classical period of Ottoman architecture

8362-530: A sultan were built in Istanbul until the mid-18th century. Mosques continued to be built and dedicated to other dynastic family members, but the tradition of sultans building their own monumental mosques lapsed. Some of the best examples of early 17th-century Ottoman architecture are the Revan Kiosk (1635) and Baghdad Kiosk (1639) in Topkapı Palace , built by Murad IV to commemorate his victories against

8588-410: A system of eight pillars or buttresses. This can be seen in the early Hadim Ibrahim Pasha Mosque (1551) and the later Rüstem Pasha Mosque (1561), both in Istanbul. The Rüstem Pasha Mosque, one of the most notable mosques in the city, is raised on top of an artificial platform whose substructure is occupied by shops and a vaulted warehouse that provided revenues for the mosque's upkeep. Most famously,

8814-564: 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

9040-475: A total of 26 columns supporting the porticos and 30 domes above them. Unlike the courtyards of the Süleymaniye Mosque and Selimiye Mosque designed by Sinan, where the portico in front of the prayer hall is taller than those on the other three sides, Mehmet Agha kept the arches of the southeast portico level almost with the others, thus prioritizing greater uniformity. At the center of the courtyard

9266-451: 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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9492-487: A year or two after, followed by the death of Safiye Sultan in 1603, caused construction to be abandoned. It was only resumed on the initiative of Hatice Turhan Sultan in 1661 and finished in 1663. The complex includes the mosque, a mausoleum for Hatice Turhan, a private pavilion for the sultan and the royal family ( Hünkâr Kasrı ), and a covered market known as the Egyptian Market ( Mısır Çarşısı ; known today as

9718-459: Is an interesting example of the classical period. Its plan resembles that of the Şehzade Mosque except that the semi-domes are replaced by cross-ribbed vaults . In Konya , the major work of the classical period is the Selimiye Mosque , dedicated to Selim II. Although it was built during the time of Sinan, its architect and date of construction are not well-documented. It was probably finished before 1574 by an architect sent from Istanbul. Its design

9944-574: Is covered by a large single dome with four small corner semi-domes. Diyarbakir is also home to the Hasan Pasha Han (1573–1575), a finely-built caravanserai with regional decorative details such as muqarnas carvings above the windows. In Van, a few mosques were built in Ottoman style but exemplify the limits of the classical Istanbul style. The Hüsrev Pasha Mosque (1567) and the Kaya Çelebi Mosque (uncertain date but probably slightly before) are

10170-473: Is crafted from elaborately carved marble, with a summit covered by a gold-covered conical cap. The mosque has been designed so that even when it is at its most crowded, everyone in the mosque can see and hear the imam, with the exception of the areas behind the mosque's large pillars. According to Evliya Çelebi , who saw the mosque in the 17th century, a hundred Qur'ans on lecterns inlaid with mother-of-pearl , all gifted by sultans and viziers, were placed near

10396-410: Is credited with designing buildings as far as Buda (present-day Budapest ) and Mecca . Sinan was probably not present to directly supervise projects far from the capital, so in these cases his designs were most likely executed by his assistants or by local architects. This also demonstrates the ability of the central Ottoman state to commission and plan building projects across its vast territory at

10622-476: 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

10848-481: Is located northeast of the mosque, next to the Hippodrome square. It was begun in 1619 after Ahmed's death, and completed by his son, Osman II ( r.  1618–1622 ). Unlike many Ottoman mausoleums, which most typically have an octagonal form, the tomb chamber has a square floor plan covered by a dome, more reminiscent of a small mosque. The dome has a diameter of 15 metres. There is a small rectangular alcove at

11074-543: 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

11300-518: Is modelled on the form of the original Fatih Mosque in Istanbul, with a central dome, semi-dome at the back, and side aisles covered by smaller domes. The most important classical Ottoman monument in western Anatolia is the Muradiye Mosque in Manisa (mentioned above), designed by Sinan but executed by his assistants. Some regions on the borders of Syria and Mesopotamia resisted assimilation to

11526-456: Is most strongly associated with the works of Mimar Sinan , who was Chief Court Architect under three sultans between 1538 and 1588. The start of the period also coincided with the long reign of Suleiman the Magnificent , which is recognized as the apogee of Ottoman political and cultural development, with extensive patronage in art and architecture by the sultan, his family, and his high-ranking officials. Ottoman architecture at this time

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11752-490: Is supported by muqarnas -carved corbeling . The minarets have been repaired many times in their history. Historically, the muezzin had to climb a narrow spiral staircase inside the minarets five times a day to announce the call to prayer. As in most major Ottoman religious foundations , the Sultan Ahmed Mosque is the main element of a larger complex of buildings. Unlike in previous imperial mosque complexes,

11978-466: 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

12204-947: 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

12430-412: Is the shadirvan, an octagonal domed kiosk sheltering a fountain that was used for ablutions . The outer surfaces of the kiosk are carved with low-relief foliate motifs. Today, Muslim ablutions are not performed at this fountain but at a series of water taps available outside the courtyard, along the northeast and southwest walls. The inclusion of these taps under arcaded galleries along the outer walls of

12656-478: The qibla ) and feature large calligraphic roundels, designed by Ahmed Karahisari , painted across multiple tiles, along with other motifs along the sides. Most of the other buildings are classical Ottoman courtyard structures consisting of a rectangular courtyard surrounded by a domed peristyle portico giving access to rooms. In the madrasas, Sinan modified some details of the typical layout for functional reasons. The Salis Medrese and Rabi Medrese, located on

12882-643: The Kılıç Ali Pasha Complex in the Tophane neighbourhood. Notably, this mosque is a miniature version of the Hagia Sophia. It is once again possible that this unusual copying of an earlier monument was a request by the patron, Kılıç Ali Pasha . Sinan's last large-scale commission was the Atik Valide Mosque , founded by Nurbanu Sultan on the southern edge of Üsküdar. It was the largest külliye and mosque complex Sinan built in Istanbul after

13108-693: The New Mosque at Eminönü , and the 18th-century reconstruction of the Fatih Mosque). It is even found in the 19th-century Muhammad Ali Mosque in Cairo . Despite this legacy and the symmetry of its design, Sinan considered the Sehzade Mosque his "apprentice" work and was not satisfied with it. During the rest of his career he did not repeat its layout in any of his other works. He instead experimented with other designs that seemed to aim for

13334-560: The Nışançı Mehmed Pasha Mosque (1584–1589), whose architect is unknown, should be attributed to him based on its date and style. Scholar Gülrü Necipoğlu suggests that Sinan may have had a role in its design. Its design is considered highly accomplished and it may be one of the first mosques to be fronted by a garden courtyard. Davud Agha was one of the few architects of this period to display great potential and to create designs that went beyond Sinan's designs, but he died of

13560-483: The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II built the Fatih Mosque between 1463 and 1470, which is dedicated to his name. It was part of a very large külliye (religious and charitable complex) which also included a tabhane (guesthouse for travelers), an imaret ( soup kitchen ), a darüşşifa (hospital), a caravanserai (hostel for traveling merchants), a mektep (primary school),

13786-590: The Rüstem Pasha Han in Edirne (1554), and the Taş Han in Erzurum (between 1544 and 1561). Sinan was also in charge of civil engineering works for Istanbul. One of his most important civil works, ordered by Suleiman, was upgrading the water supply system of the city, which he carried out between 1554 and 1564. For this work he built or rebuilt several impressive aqueducts in the Belgrad Forest , expanding on

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14012-609: 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

14238-565: The Safavids . Both are small pavilions raised on platforms overlooking the palace gardens. Both are harmoniously decorated on the inside and outside with predominantly blue and white tiles and richly-inlaid window shutters. In the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, fires and other damages triggered some changes. The bazaar structures were until then entirely built in wood, but some of the street roofing began to be rebuilt with masonry vaulting in

14464-787: The Sinan Pasha Mosque (1553–1555) in Beşiktaş, the Kara Ahmed Pasha Mosque (1554) in western Istanbul, the Molla Çelebi Mosque (circa 1561–1562) in Beyoğlu , the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque (1571) in the Kadırga neighbourhood, and the Atik Valide Mosque (1583) in Üsküdar. The earlier Sinan Pasha Mosque was essentially modelled on the Üç Şerefeli Mosque of Edirne, with a central dome two side domes on either side. Sinan refined

14690-590: 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

14916-648: 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

15142-722: The Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul and the Stari Most bridge in Mostar . 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

15368-812: The Takkiya al-Khassaki Sultan (roughly, 'Sufi convent of Haseki Sultan'). Due to the restricted space, the use of local craftsmen, and its incorporation of the earlier Mamluk-era Palace of Lady Tunshuq, the complex had little resemblance to the classical Ottoman style. Parts of the complex, including a madrasa and a mosque, are no longer extant today, but the Haseki Sultan Imaret (hospice or soup kitchen) has been preserved. Sinan also designed two Sufi hospices commissioned by Hürrem Sultan in Medina and Mecca, which were completed by 1552 but are no longer extant. These types of hospices and convents, known locally as

15594-441: 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

15820-414: 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,

16046-426: The mosque of the Ka'aba in Mecca . When criticized for his presumption, the Sultan then ordered a seventh minaret to be built at the Mecca mosque. Each of the six minaret towers is fluted and is topped by a slender, conical cap. The four minarets rising at the corners of the prayer hall each have three balconies ( şerefe ) while the other two at the outer corners of the courtyard have two balconies each. Each balcony

16272-514: The Şehzade Mosque , Süleymaniye Mosque , and Selimiye Mosque . After Sinan's death, the classical style became less innovative and more repetitive. The 17th century still produced major works such as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque , but the social and political changes of the Tulip Period eventually led to a shift towards Ottoman Baroque architecture . Early Ottoman mosques up to the early and mid 15th century were generally of three types:

16498-611: The "last stage in Early Ottoman architecture", while the central dome plan and the " modular " character of its design signaled the direction of future Ottoman architecture in Istanbul . He also notes that the mosque, which is built in cut stone and makes use of alternating bands of coloured stone for some of its decorative effects, marks the decline of the use of alternating brick and stone construction seen in earlier Ottoman buildings. Ottoman sultans traditionally built monumental mosques and religious complexes in their name. After

16724-537: The 1560s or 1570s, but was definitely completed by 1584. Further afield, he designed the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Complex in Payas , which was begun years earlier but completed in 1574. The complex is a carefully-planned group of buildings centered around an arasta or covered market street. On one side of the street is a small mosque, a tekke (Sufi lodge), a mektep , and a hammam, while on

16950-456: The 1560s onward. Blue colours predominate in the tiles, but the important "tomato red" colour began to appear. The tiles were painted with a repertoire of motifs including tulips , hyacinths , carnations , roses , pomegranates , artichoke leaves, narcissus , and Chinese "cloud" motifs. In Lüleburgaz, on the road between Istanbul and Edirne, vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha founded a mosque complex named after him in 1559–1560. The complex

17176-484: The 16th century it was standard for walls to be made with a rubble core and faced with cut stone , particularly cut limestone . Some buildings were still constructed with the older technique of alternating layers of brick with layers of stone, but this was more common for auxiliary structures rather than major monuments. Domes and vaults continued to be built with brick, which was lighter than stone and thus more suited for this purpose, and then typically covered with lead on

17402-552: The 17th century – closer to its present-day appearance – though the change to masonry was not widespread until after 1750. The commercial district also grew beyond the covered bazaar. The largest caravanserai in Istanbul, the Büyük Valide Han , was built nearby circa 1651 by Kösem Mahpeyker Valide Sultan . The Yeni Valide ('New Queen Mother's') Mosque at Eminönü was initially begun by architect Davud Agha in 1597, sponsored by Safiye Sultan . However, Davud Agha's death

17628-427: The 1970s but was subsequently restored and now serves as the office of the rectorate of Marmara University . The surviving buildings of the imaret have been integrated into it. The primary school ( sibyan mektebi ) is a small and simple rectangular structure built over the outer precinct wall on the east side of the mosque. It was completed around 1617 and destroyed by a fire in 1912. It has since been restored. To

17854-987: The Balkans is the single-span bridge known as Stari Most in Mostar (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina), which was designed or completed by Hayreddin , one of Sinan's assistants. It was originally built between 1557 and 1566 by order of sultan Suleiman. Other notable bridges from the same period and region include the Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge in Višegrad (1577) and the Arslanağa Bridge in Trebinje (1573 or 1574). Mimar Sinan Mimar Sinan ( Ottoman Turkish : معمار سينان , romanized :  Mi'mâr Sinân ; Turkish : Mimar Sinan , pronounced [miːˈmaːɾ siˈnan] ; c.  1488/1490 – 17 July 1588) also known as Koca Mi'mâr Sinân Âğâ , ("Sinan Agha

18080-694: The Fatih Pasha Mosque (mentioned above), the Hadim Ali Pasha Mosque (1534–1537), the Iskender Pasha Mosque (1551), and the Behram Pasha Mosque (1572). The Behram Pasha Mosque, likely designed by an architect sent from Istanbul, is notable as the only building in the region to be decorated with Iznik tiles imported from Istanbul. The mosque is fronted by a double portico of columns and its prayer hall

18306-722: The Grand Architect" or "Grand Sinan") was the chief Ottoman architect, engineer and mathematician for sultans Suleiman the Magnificent , Selim II and Murad III . He was responsible for the construction of more than 300 major structures, including the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne , the Kanuni Sultan Suleiman Bridge in Büyükçekmece , and the Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge in Višegrad , as well as other more modest projects such as madrasa's, külliyes , and bridges. His apprentices would later design

18532-401: The Hagia Sophia and early Ottoman mosques is also reflected by the continuing use of semi-domes alongside the main dome and the use of pendentives to accomplish the transition from the dome to the square or polygonal space below. In the Ottoman style canonized by Sinan, the design of monumental Ottoman buildings was conceptualized with the central dome above as its starting point, rather than

18758-493: The Hagia Sophia, classical Ottoman architecture was, as before, ultimately a syncretic blend of numerous influences and adaptations for Ottoman needs. Ottoman architecture used a limited set of general forms – such as domes, semi-domes, and arcaded porticos – which were repeated in every structure and could be combined in a limited number of ways. Doğan Kuban describes this as the "modular" aspect of Ottoman architecture. The ingenuity of successful architects such as Sinan lay in

18984-516: The Hagia Sophia. Prior to construction, this site was occupied by the palaces of several Ottoman viziers, including Sokollu Mehmet Pasha and Güzel Ahmet Pasha, which required a costly expropriation process. This, along with the fact that the empire was under economic stress, aroused the protests of the ulema (Islamic legal scholars), who argued that sultans should only fund the construction of an imperial mosque with spoils of conquest. Ahmed I had won no major victories and thus had to divert funds from

19210-541: 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

19436-634: 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

19662-479: The Magnificent is also recognized as the apogee of Ottoman political and cultural development, with extensive patronage in art and architecture by the sultan, his family, and his high-ranking officials. The master architect of the classical period, Mimar Sinan, served as the chief court architect ( mimarbaşi ) from 1538 until his death in 1588. Sinan credited himself with the design of over 300 buildings, though another estimate of his works puts it at nearly 500. He

19888-430: 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

20114-560: 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

20340-470: The Qur'an), is contained within the outer enclosure of the nearby mausoleum It was restored in 1935 and is currently used as a storage for Ottoman archives. Four other structures of the complex were built over the sphendone, the semi-circular southwest end of the Hippodrome. The largest and furthest building was a hospital ( darüşşifa ), a square building arranged around an internal courtyard. Its construction

20566-502: The Qur'an, originally made by the famous calligrapher Seyyid Kasim Gubari , but these too have been restored repeatedly and no longer match the original calligrapher's work. Some opus sectile decoration is also used at floor level. The mosque also contains some original inlaid woodwork of high quality, including the doors of the courtyard entrance, which were made by the father of Evliya Çelebi. The mosque contains some 260 windows to admit natural light. Each semi-dome has 14 windows and

20792-499: 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,

21018-527: 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

21244-499: The Spice Bazaar). Its courtyard and interior are richly decorated with Iznik or Kütahya tiles, as well as with stone-carved muqarnas and vegetal rumi motifs. The similarly named Yeni Valide Mosque complex, built in 1708–1711 in Üsküdar , was one of the last major monuments built in the classical style in Istanbul before the rise of the Tulip Period style. Ottoman monuments continued to be constructed across Anatolia in

21470-728: 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

21696-419: The Süleymaniye. Construction on the complex may have started as early as 1570, with the mosque probably completed by 1579 and work on auxiliary structures continuing after this. Nurbanu died in 1583 but some modifications and additions to her mosque were made between 1584 and 1586. The complex consists of numerous structure across a sprawling site. Unlike the earlier Fatih and Süleymaniye complexes, and despite

21922-589: 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

22148-654: 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:

22374-406: 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

22600-606: 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

22826-435: The arches of the windows are made with alternating courses of red and white marble, the dome is fluted, and the octagonal walls are crowned with a carved stone frieze of lace-like palmettes . The interior walls of the tomb are entirely covered in extravagant cuerda seca tiles of predominantly green and yellow colours on a dark blue ground, featuring arabesque motifs and inscriptions. The stained glass windows are also among

23052-401: The back of the chamber whose original purpose is uncertain. The tomb is fronted by a portico with three arches. Inside are the tombs of Sultan Ahmed I and some of his family, including his wife Kösem and four of his sons, Sultan Osman II, Sultan Murad IV ( r.  1623–1640 ), Şehzade Mehmed (d. 1621) and Şehzade Bayezid (d. 1635). The madrasa of the complex is located just outside

23278-628: The best examples of their kind in Ottoman architecture. Around the same time as the Şehzade Mosque construction Sinan also built the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque (also known as the Iskele Mosque) for one of Suleiman's daughters, Mihrimah Sultan . It was completed in 1547–1548 and is located in Üsküdar , across the Bosphorus. It is notable for its wide "double porch ", with an inner portico surrounded by an outer portico at

23504-471: The buttresses and gave the exterior a greater sense of monumentality. Even the four pillars inside the mosque were given irregular shapes to give them a less heavy-handed appearance. The basic design of the Şehzade Mosque, with its symmetrical dome and four semi-dome layout, proved popular with later architects and was repeated in classical Ottoman mosques after Sinan (e.g. the Sultan Ahmed I Mosque ,

23730-473: The caravanserai. The imaret and the tabhane have T-shaped courtyards and are symmetrically positioned on either side of a large central courtyard that divides them. This configuration is unique among Sinan's works. Among Sinan's last works before his death are the Murad III Mosque in Manisa, built between 1583 and 1586 under the supervision of his assistants Mahmud and Mehmed Agha , as well as

23956-430: The careful and calculated attempts to solve problems of space, proportion, and harmony. Sinan himself continuously experimented with different spatial arrangements for his buildings throughout his career, seldom using the same design more than once. After Sinan, his less talented successors showed less creativity and the later classical style became stale and repetitive by comparison with earlier periods. In what may be

24182-400: The central dome 28 (four of which are blind ). Each smaller exedra of the semi-domes has five windows, some of which are blind. Many of the windows were made in a traditional manner with intricate designs created with small pieces of coloured glass. Some of the glass was manufactured locally for the outer windows, but most of the glass, especially the coloured glass, was imported. Some of it was

24408-435: The central dome and the pillars is achieved by four long, smooth pendentives . Smaller pendentives are used for transitions between the semi-domes and their exedrae and between the hall's corner domes and the surrounding structure. The transitions between the smaller exedrae and the supporting walls or arches are covered by muqarnas (stalactite-like sculpting) made of stucco . By employing these elements, Mehmed Agha created

24634-527: 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

24860-516: The city he built the Haseki Hürrem Hamam near Hagia Sophia in 1556–1557, one of the most famous hammams he designed, which includes two equally-sized sections for men and women. In 1550 Sinan began construction for the Süleymaniye complex , a monumental religious and charitable complex dedicated to Suleiman. Construction finished in 1557. Following the example of the earlier Fatih complex, it consists of many buildings arranged around

25086-436: The city's skyline. The mosque's location was originally occupied by the Hippodrome's bleachers and its imperial box (where the emperor sat when attending events here). During excavations in the early 20th century, some of the ancient seats were discovered in the mosque's courtyard. Given the mosque's location, size, and number of minarets , it is probable that Sultan Ahmed intended to create a monument that rivalled or surpassed

25312-602: The classical period. In Tokat , the Ali Pasha Mosque (circa 1573) is an important example of the period, though the architect is unknown. In Kayseri , the Kurşunlu Mosque (1585), is similar to the Ali Pasha Mosque and was possibly designed by Sinan (whose hometown was Kayseri), although it may have been executed by a local architect. The Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque in Erzurum , completed in 1562–1563

25538-563: 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

25764-469: The courtyard was an innovative feature. A heavy iron chain hangs in the northwestern entrance (from the Hippodrome) to the outer precinct of the mosque. Only the sultan was allowed to enter the court of the mosque on horseback. The chain was put there, so that the sultan had to lower his head every single time he entered the court to avoid being hit. This was a symbolic gesture, to ensure the humility of

25990-453: The courtyard, the prayer hall is also entered via a monumental gate on the southeast side, decorated with its own muqarnas semi-vault and inscription panel. The prayer hall also has two other lateral entrances on the outside of the mosque, where non-Muslim tourists usually enter today. On the inside, the mosque courtyard has a classic rectangular peristyle form, lined on each side with an arcaded and domed portico (or riwaq ). There are

26216-423: The culture and architectural styles of the Ottoman capital and continued to be strongly influenced by local styles. Diyarbakir , Van , and Adana were important regional centers in the empire which retained or developed their own local styles. The Great Mosque of Adana , for example, was built under Ottoman rule between 1507 and 1541 but its features are all derived from Syrian and Mamluk traditions. In Bitlis ,

26442-532: 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

26668-440: The deliberate juxtaposition of curved domes and vertical elements to create a more dramatic effect. The courtyard of the mosque has three entrances: a central entrance on the northwest and two other side entrances. The central entrance is the most monumental, featuring a tall projecting portal topped by a small dome raised on a drum . A muqarnas semi-vault is set over the exterior doorway and there are two inscription panels. From

26894-573: The design of the Kara Ahmed Pasha Mosque and the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque in Kadırga. Some scholars, such as Doğan Kuban, argue on the basis of this unusual decision that the final design must have been altered by someone other than Sinan, but Godfrey Goodwin argues that there is no clear reason to suppose this. The mosque is fronted by a double portico and the whole building is surrounded on three sides by

27120-486: The dome for its size and height, which is approximately the same diameter as the Hagia Sophia's main dome and slightly taller; the first time that this had been achieved in Ottoman architecture. It also became the largest dome in the Islamic world at the time. The mihrab, carved in marble, is set within a recessed and slightly elevated apse projecting outward from the rest of the mosque, allowing it to be illuminated by windows on three sides. The walls on either side of

27346-480: The doorway and the interior of the tomb. The dome, 14 meters in diameter, is the first major example of a double-shelled dome in Sinan's architecture. After designing the Süleymaniye complex, Sinan appears to have focused on experimenting with the single-domed space. In the 1550s and 1560s he experimented with an "octagonal baldaquin" design for the main dome, in which the dome rests on an octagonal drum supported by

27572-424: The earlier Bayezid II Mosque: a central dome preceded and followed by semi-domes, with smaller domes covering the sides. The reuse of an older mosque layout is something Sinan did not normally do. Doğan Kuban has suggested that it may have been due to a request from Suleiman. In particular, the building replicates the central dome layout of the Hagia Sophia and this may be interpreted as a desire by Suleiman to emulate

27798-483: The empire in this era. The mosque itself is notable as Sinan's first experimentation with a "square baldaquin" structure, where the dome rests on a support system with a square layout (without the semi-domes of the Şehzade Mosque design). Not long after this Mihrimah Sultan sponsored a second mosque, the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in the Edirnekapı area of Istanbul. It was built between 1562 and 1565. Here Sinan employed

28024-634: The end of Selim II's reign or in Suleiman's early reign, are the Hafsa Sultan or Sultaniye Mosque in Manisa (circa 1522), the Fatih Pasha Mosque in Diyarbakir (completed in 1520 or 1523), and the Çoban Mustafa Pasha Complex in Gebze (1523–1524). Prior to being appointed chief court architect, Sinan was a military engineer who assisted the army on campaigns. His first major non-military project

28250-603: The end of a sloped roof. This feature proved popular for certain patrons and was repeated by Sinan in several other mosques. One example is the Rüstem Pasha Mosque in Tekirdağ (1552–1553). Another example is the Sulaymaniyya Takiyya in Damascus , the western part of which (including a mosque and a Sufi convent ) was built in 1554–1559. The Sulaymaniyya complex in Damascus is also an important example of

28476-400: The entire Iznik industry during its construction. Starting in 1607, orders for tiles were sent out continuously and in 1613 the sultan even forbade the production and sale of tiles for any other purpose, so that his own commissions could be completed on time. A total of 21,043 tiles, featuring over fifty different designs, are found inside the mosque. Some panels were designed specifically for

28702-400: The existing urban fabric. Thanks to its refined architecture, its scale, its dominant position on the city skyline, and its role as a symbol of Suleiman's powerful reign, the Süleymaniye Mosque complex is one of the most important symbols of Ottoman architecture and is often considered by scholars to be the most magnificent mosque in Istanbul. The mosque itself has a form similar to that of

28928-455: The faithful and are regularly replaced as they wear out. At ground level, the focus of the prayer hall is the mihrab, which is made of finely carved marble, with a muqarnas niche and a two inscription panels above it. It is surrounded by many windows. To the right of the mihrab is the richly decorated minbar , or pulpit, where the imam stands when he is delivering his sermon at the time of noon prayer on Fridays or on holy days. The minbar

29154-453: The first time in Ottoman architecture. It was partly destroyed by a fire in 1912 and was subsequently restored. The lower walls of the mosque, especially around the galleries, are covered in Iznik tiles , a style of tilework named after their main production center, İznik (ancient Nicaea ). Ahmed I had a great appreciation for these tiles and the production of tiles for his mosque occupied

29380-429: The floor plan being conceived first and the roofing system after. In particular, the core of the design was the domed baldaquin, which is to say the dome and its basic structural support system: a set of pillars or buttresses in a square, hexagonal, or octagonal configuration – involving four, six, or eight pillars, respectively. Whereas early Ottoman buildings relied on brick and rubble masonry for construction, in

29606-645: 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

29832-570: The grounds of the Old Palace ( Eski Saray ) built by Mehmet II, which had been damaged by fire. By this point, Suleiman had also moved his own residence and the royal family to Topkapı Palace. In order to adapt the hilltop site, Sinan had to begin by laying solid foundations and retaining walls to form a wide terrace. The overall layout of buildings is less rigidly symmetrical than the Fatih complex, as Sinan opted to integrate it more flexibly into

30058-536: The hexagonal baldaquin model for the Kara Ahmet Pasha Mosque, dispensing of the side domes and replacing them with semi-domes opening off the main dome. This change allowed for the side areas to be reduced in prominence and better integrated into the central domed space. The Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque in Kadırga is one of Sinan's most accomplished designs of his late career and with this type of configuration. In this mosque Sinan completely integrated

30284-534: The important Ottoman monuments in the Balkan provinces (known as Rumelia to the Ottomans) date from the 16th and 17th century. Building activity was particularly intense in the 16th century and during the reign of Suleiman, even surpassing that of Anatolia, but it declined over the course of the 17th century. Sarajevo , Mostar , Skopje , Plovdiv and Thessaloniki , were among the most important Ottoman cities in

30510-410: The interior of the prayer hall. The exterior façades of the mosque are characterized by ground-level porticos, wide arches in which sets of windows are framed, and domes and semi-domes that progressively culminate upwards – in a roughly pyramidal fashion – to the large central dome. The four minarets are arranged at the corners of the courtyard, like in the earlier Üç Şerefeli Mosque, but the ones at

30736-626: 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

30962-581: 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

31188-428: The lack of a monumental entrance portal and the placement of the dershane (a larger domed chamber serving as a classroom), which is attached to a corner of the building rather than placed in the middle of one side. The madrasa is entered via a more discrete doorway on the northwest side, behind the outer garden wall of the nearby mausoleum. A separate square structure, the darülkurra (a school that teaches reading of

31414-420: The large available space, there was no attempt at creating a unified or symmetrical design across the entire complex. This may suggest that Sinan did not regard this characteristic as necessary to the design of an ideal mosque complex, but it has also led to scholarly arguments about whether Sinan was the only one responsible for the design. It is likely that the posthumous expansion of the mosque (of 1584–1586)

31640-406: 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

31866-449: The last accounting reports on the mosque's construction were signed by Mustafa I , Ahmed I's successor, which suggests that Ahmed I had died before the final completion of the project. In the end, the mosque's grandeur, its luxurious decoration, and the elaborate public ceremonies that Ahmed I organized to celebrate the project appear to have swayed public opinion and overcome the initial controversy over its construction. It became one of

32092-415: 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

32318-463: 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

32544-467: 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

32770-432: The main dome. Sinan also made good use of the spaces between the pillars and buttresses by filling them with an elevated gallery on the inside and arched porticos on the outside. The elevated galleries inside helped to eliminate what little ground-level space existed beyond the central domed baldaquin structure, ensuring that the dome therefore dominated the view from anywhere a visitor could stand. Sinan's biographies praise

32996-409: The main mosque in the center, on a planned site occupying the summit of a hill in Istanbul. The buildings included the mosque itself, four general madrasas, a madrasa specialized for medicine, a madrasa specialized for hadiths ( darülhadis ), a mektep , a darüşşifa , a caravanserai, a tabhane , an imaret, a hammam, rows of shops, and a cemetery with two mausoleums. The site was formerly occupied by

33222-411: The mihrab and on the pendentives of the main dome, creating one of the best compositions of tilework decoration in this period. Sinan's crowning masterpiece is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, which was begun in 1568 and completed in 1574 (or possibly 1575). It forms the major element of another imperial complex of buildings. The mosque building consists of two equal parts: a rectangular courtyard and

33448-434: The mihrab are decorated with excellent Iznik tiles, as is the sultan's private balcony for prayers in the mosque's eastern corner. The minbar of the mosque is among the finest examples of the stone minbars which by then had become common in Ottoman architecture. The stone surfaces are decorated with arches, pierced geometric motifs , and carved arabesques. The exterior of the mosque is marked by four minarets that are some of

33674-429: The mihrab. The hünkâr mahfil , or sultan's loge, is an elevated platform situated in the southeast corner of the prayer hall, where the sultan could pray. The platform has an L-shape and is supported on ten marble columns. It has its own mihrab with rich decoration, which used to include gold leaf and a jade rose. The loge is reached from the outside via an "imperial pavilion", a large L-shaped structure composed of

33900-433: The modest Ramazan Efendi Mosque in Istanbul, built in 1586. The Murad III Mosque (or Muradiye Mosque) has undergone later restorations but the plan of the building is unusual for a Sinan design because the central dome is flanked by semi-vaults instead of semi-domes. The mihrab is set within a shallow vaulted recess projecting from the back of the building, which gives it an almost T-like plan. Upon his death in 1588, Sinan

34126-475: The mosque demonstrates an emerging trend towards extravagance in the structure and decoration of Ottoman buildings during this time, as evidenced by its size, its profile (including the increased number of minarets), and its lavish use of Iznik tiles. A similar lack of restraint in decoration is also found, for example, in the New Mosque (or Yeni Valide Mosque) that was completed later that same century. While architectural historians have criticized some details of

34352-408: The mosque is based on that of the earlier Şehzade Mosque designed by Mimar Sinan in the early 16th century. The prayer hall occupies an area of 64 by 72 metres (210 by 236 ft) and has a central dome measuring 23.5 metres (77 ft) in diameter. The dome is surrounded by four semi-domes , each of which is flanked by three smaller semi-domes or exedrae . Four smaller domes cover the corners of

34578-419: The mosque itself at the corners of the dome. This allowed for the walls in between the buttresses to be thinner, which in turn allowed for more windows to bring in more light. Sinan also moved the outer walls inward, near the inner edge of the buttresses, so that the latter were less visible inside the mosque. On the outside, he added domed porticos along the lateral façades of the building which further obscured

34804-477: The mosque took place in the 21st century. During preparatory work in 2013, it was discovered that the mosque's northwest minaret had shifted 5 centimetres (2.0 in) over time, constituting a potential threat to its structural stability. Work to reconstruct and repair the minaret was underway in 2015. Comprehensive restoration work on the rest of the mosque began in 2018 and was finished in April 2023. The design of

35030-429: The mosque was the most prominent element. The mosque has a rectangular floor plan divided into two equal squares, with one square occupied by the courtyard and the other occupied by the prayer hall. Two minarets stand on either side at the junction of these two squares. The prayer hall consists of a central dome surrounded by semi-domes on four sides, with smaller domes occupying the corners. Smaller semi-domes also fill

35256-411: The mosque were once covered with gold and gems . Among the lamps one could find ostrich eggs and crystal balls. Adding ostrich eggs to chandeliers was a frequent traditional practice in mosques and Near Eastern churches. It is popularly explained in Istanbul as a method to ward off spiders or mice, or to warn of earthquakes. Some of the crystal balls or glass bowls also contained other curiosities, such as

35482-413: The mosque's exterior portico and the walls of its interior are covered in a wide array of Iznik tiles, unprecedented in Ottoman architecture. Sinan usually kept decoration limited and subordinate to the overall architecture, so this exception is possibly the result of a request by the wealthy patron, grand vizier Rüstem Pasha . The mosque also marks the beginning of the artistic peak of Iznik tile art from

35708-416: The mosque's structure and decoration when comparing it to the earlier works of Sinan, the mosque is one of the most impressive and popularly admired monuments of Ottoman architecture . The mosque's interior is dominated by its dome and cascading semi-domes. The main dome reaches a height of 43 metres (141 ft). The weight of the dome is supported by four massive cylindrical pillars. The transition between

35934-418: The mosque, is the culmination of domed octagonal tombs which developed in earlier Ottoman architecture. The tomb is entered via a small porch and on either side of the door are two panels of early cuerda seca tiles characteristic of early 16th century Ottoman tilework. The architect of the tomb is named in an inscription as Acem Alisi. Other notable architectural complexes before Sinan's architect career, at

36160-410: The mosque, while others seem to have been reused from other buildings and amassed here, including lower-quality tiles added during later repairs. The finest tiles are found on the walls of the upper gallery on the north wall, though these are difficult for most visitors to see today. They constitute a virtual museum of tile design from this period, with motifs including cypress trees, flowers, and fruit in

36386-467: 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

36612-443: The most emblematic of the structures of this period, the classical mosques designed by Sinan and those after him used a dome-based structure, similar to that of Hagia Sophia, but among other things changed the proportions, opened the interior of the structure and freed it from the colonnades and other structural elements that broke up the inside of Hagia Sophia and other Byzantine churches, and added more light, with greater emphasis on

36838-464: The most important examples of the period, although both have been damaged over time. Both mosques have a "minimalist" style, consisting simply of a square prayer hall covered by a large dome. The construction of the domes shows signs of Persian influence . The dome of the Kaya Çelebi Mosque has no drum . Both are constructed with alternating layers of black and white stone, similar to Diyarbakir buildings, and both have simple round minarets. Nearly all

37064-477: The most popular mosques in the city. The mosque has left a major mark on the city and has given its name to the surrounding neighbourhood, now known as Sultanahmet. In 1883, much of the mosque interior's painted decoration was replaced by new stenciled paintwork, some of which changed the original colour scheme. A major fire in 1912 damaged or destroyed several of the outlying structures of the mosque complex, which were subsequently restored. A major restoration of

37290-458: The necessary materials. In this period Ottoman architecture, especially under the work and influence of Sinan, saw a new unification and harmonization of the various architectural elements and influences that Ottoman architecture had previously absorbed but which had not yet been harmonized into a collective whole. Taking heavily from the Byzantine tradition, and in particular the influence of

37516-428: The northeast side of the mosque where the ground slopes down towards the Golden Horn, have a "stepped" design in which the courtyard descends in three terraces connected by stairs while the domed rooms are built at progressively lower levels alongside it. The cemetery contains two mausoleums designed by Sinan: that of his wife Hürrem Sultan (dated to 1558) and that of Suleiman himself (dated to 1566 but possibly finished

37742-708: The older Byzantine water supply system. These include the Bent Aqueduct ( Eğrikemer ), the Long Aqueduct ( Uzunkemer ), the Mağlova Aqueduct (also known as Justinian's Aqueduct), and the Güzelce ("Beautiful") Aqueduct. Doğan Kuban praises the Mağlova Aqueduct as one of Sinan's best creations. Sinan also built bridges, such as the Büyükçesme Bridge outside Istanbul, completed in 1564. Inside

37968-412: 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

38194-591: The other constructions and renovations that Suleyman ordered further south at the holy sites of Jerusalem , Medina , and Mecca , in which Sinan was generally not involved. This included the renovation of the Dome of the Rock , which began in 1545–46 and provided it with its now-famous tile decoration, and the renovation of the Kaaba in 1551–1552. Sinan did, however, design a new charitable complex in Jerusalem for Haseki Hürrem Sultan, built around 1550–1557 and identified as

38420-502: The other side of the street is an imaret, several tabhane s, and a large caravanserai . Like the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Complex in Lüleburgaz, the complex here acted as a kind of staging post for travelers and traders in the region. In 1577 Sinan completed yet another mosque for Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque in the Azapkapı neighbourhood, for which he employed the octagonal baldaquin design one last time. In

38646-425: The other structures of this complex are not arranged in a regular, well-organized plan around the mosque. Because the mosque was built next to the Hippodrome, the site created difficulties for a planned complex and the auxiliary buildings were instead placed in various locations near the mosque or around the Hippodrome. The mosque is surrounded by an outer court or precinct enclosed by a wall. The mausoleum of Ahmed I

38872-424: The other two structures (the pantry and dining hall) are rectangular buildings with six domes. Additionally, there were guesthouses nearby but these have disappeared. In the 19th century, the hospital and the guesthouses were destroyed and an academy was built over the site. Only the hospital's hammam section and the marble fountain of its courtyard have survived to the present day. The academy building burned down in

39098-622: 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

39324-413: The outer corners are shorter than those at the inner corners next to the prayer hall, thus adding to the visual impression of a heightening towards the central dome. Inside, Sinan kept the ornamentation very restrained, but this was also the first mosque in Istanbul to make significant use of underglaze -painted Iznik tiles in its decoration. These tiles cover the wall around the mihrab (niche symbolizing

39550-424: The outer wall of the mosque's precinct, to the northeast. It was probably completed towards 1620. The madrasa has a generally classical layout, consisting of a rectangular courtyard surrounded on all four sides by an arcaded and domed portico. Behind each portico is a row of domed rooms that served as student sleeping quarters, with 24 rooms in total. The main features that depart from the design of earlier madrasas are

39776-425: The outside. By the 16th century, the empire contained many old disused Byzantine churches and it was common practice to reuse marble columns taken from these sites, which provided much of the marble for new constructions in this period. Fresh marble was also quarried around Marmara . Occasionally, when there was a shortage of marble or in situations where marble was risky for certain structural elements, "fake marble"

40002-575: The period, the structure incorporates aspects of Byzantine architecture from the neighboring Hagia Sophia with Islamic architecture . It was the last great mosque of this classical period. Architectural historian Doğan Kuban characterizes Mehmed Agha's style as having a more "sculptural" approach, with more attention brought on the details of the building and a willingness to break up its elements into smaller parts, whereas Sinan had placed more emphasis on rigorous spatial designs with relatively restrained decoration. Scholar Gülru Necipoğlu states that

40228-579: The plague right before the end of the 16th century. After this, the two largest mosques built in the 17th century were both modelled on the form of the older Şehzade Mosque: the Sultan Ahmed I Mosque and the Yeni Valide Mosque in Eminönü. The Sultan Ahmed I Mosque , also known as the Blue Mosque, was begun in 1609 and completed in 1617. It was designed by Sinan's apprentice, Mehmed Agha . The mosque's size, location, and decoration suggest it

40454-554: 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

40680-462: 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

40906-417: The prayer hall. On the outside, the mosque has six minarets, ablutions facilities, and a large courtyard preceding the prayer hall. The mosque's architect, Sedefkar Mehmed Agha , synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendor. According to the architect's official biographer, the mosque was the culmination of his career. Reflecting the classical Ottoman style of

41132-535: The precincts of Hagia Sophia he built the Tomb of Selim II, one of the largest Ottoman domed mausoleums, in 1576–1577. In Topkapı Palace one of his most notable works, the Chamber or Pavilion of Murad III, was built in 1578. In 1580 he built the Şemsi Pasha Complex , a small mosque, tomb, and medrese complex on the waterside of Üsküdar which is considered one of the best small mosques he designed. In 1580–1581 he built

41358-410: The purpose. On the outside, Mehmed Agha opted to achieve a "softer" profile with the cascade of domes and the various curving elements, differing from the more dramatic juxtaposition of domes and vertical elements seen in earlier classical mosques by Sinan. It is also the only Ottoman mosque to have as many as six minarets. After the Sultan Ahmed I Mosque, no further great imperial mosques dedicated to

41584-415: The region and many of them contain monuments from the classical period, although some cities, like Skopje, were severely damaged in the wars of the late 17th century. As in other provincial areas of the empire, mosques in the Balkans generally consisted of the single-dome type with one minaret, though mosques with sloped wooden roofs were also built. One of the most beautiful and famous Ottoman monuments in

41810-405: 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,

42036-404: 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

42262-421: The ruler in the face of the divine. The Blue Mosque is one of the five mosques in Turkey that has six minarets (one in the modern Sabancı Mosque in Adana , the Muğdat Mosque in Mersin , Çamlıca Mosque in Üsküdar and the Green mosque in Arnavutköy). According to folklore, an architect misheard the Sultan's request for "altın minareler" (gold minarets) as "altı minare" (six minarets), a feature then-unique to

42488-473: The single-domed mosque , the "T-plan" mosque, and the multi-domed mosque. A major step towards the style of later Ottoman mosques was the Üç Şerefeli Mosque in Edirne , begun by Murad II in 1437 and finished in 1447. The overall form of the mosque, with its central-dome prayer hall, arcaded courtyard with fountain, four minarets , and tall entrance portals, foreshadowed the features of later Ottoman mosque architecture. Scholar Doğan Kuban describes it as

42714-414: The south, beyond a sloped tunnel that gives access to and from the mosque precinct, was a hammam. It was probably completed in 1617. It is now partly ruined. Its furnace room, warm room , and hot room are still mostly standing, but the front part of the building, which was probably made of wood, has been lost. Stretching below the southeast side of the mosque precinct is an arasta , a market street that

42940-471: The space between the corner domes and the main semi-domes. This design represents the culmination of the previous domed and semi-domed buildings in Ottoman architecture, bringing complete symmetry to the dome layout. An early version of this design, on a smaller scale, had been used before Sinan as early as 1520 or 1523 in the Fatih Pasha Mosque in Diyarbakir. While a cross -like layout had symbolic meaning in Christian architecture, in Ottoman architecture this

43166-416: The space occupied by the supporting elements of the dome. The dome is supported on eight massive pillars which are partly freestanding but closely integrated with the outer walls. Additional outer buttresses are concealed in the walls of the mosque, allowing the walls in between to be pierced with a large number of windows. Four semi-dome squinches occupy the corners but they are much smaller in proportion to

43392-416: The structure of the Hagia Sophia, demonstrating how this ancient monument continued to hold tremendous symbolic power in Ottoman culture. Nonetheless, Sinan employed innovations similar to those he used previously in the Şehzade Mosque: he concentrated the load-bearing supports into a limited number of columns and pillars, which allowed for more windows in the walls and minimized the physical separations within

43618-409: The supporting columns of the hexagonal baldaquin into the outer walls for the first time, thus creating a unified interior space. He also accomplished a better transition between the domed portico around the courtyard and the higher portico of the mosque façade by adding corner rooms of intermediate height between them. The mosque's interior is notable for the revetment of Iznik tiles on the wall around

43844-429: The tallest Ottoman minarets ever built, standing at 70.89 meters tall. In 1573 Sinan built the Piyale Pasha Mosque , which is unusual as the only time he built a multi-dome mosque resembling the multi-dome congregational mosques of early Ottoman architecture. Another unusual building attributed to Sinan is the Zal Mahmud Pasha Mosque complex near Eyüp . It has an unknown construction date; it could have been built in

44070-402: 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

44296-432: The time, a practice that also helped to establish Ottoman sovereignty in these provinces through the construction of monuments in a visibly Ottoman style. Architects in the capital were able to draw plans and delegate them to other architects who carried them out locally, while the imperial administration developed a set of standards for planning and construction and was able to coordinate the procurement and transportation of

44522-410: 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

44748-441: The treasury for this expensive project. The ulema went so far as to forbid Muslims from praying at the mosque. Despite the opposition, the sultan went ahead with the project. Construction started in 1609 and completed in 1617, when the opening ceremony was held, though the year 1616 is mentioned on some of the mosque's inscriptions. Ahmed I died around the same time or very soon afterwards in 1617. Scholar Godfrey Goodwin notes that

44974-433: 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

45200-429: 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

45426-421: The use of lighting and shadow with a huge volume of windows. These developments were themselves both a mixture of influence from Hagia Sophia and similar Byzantine structures, as well as the result of the developments of Ottoman architecture from 1400 on, which, in the words of Godfrey Goodwin , had already "achieved that poetic interplay of shaded and sunlit interiors which pleased Le Corbusier ." The legacy of

45652-481: 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

45878-447: 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

46104-400: The Şerefiye Mosque (1528) is the most notable monument from the 16th century, but it is a continuation of older Anatolian Seljuk architecture rather than of contemporary Ottoman mosques. Diyarbakir, a regional capital, includes many Ottoman-style monuments, but the regional style is distinguished by the use of black basalt stone alternating with white stone. The most important monuments are

46330-447: 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

46556-465: 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

46782-461: Was begun in 1609 and completed in 1620. It included a hammam (bathhouse) and a small mosque. Directly northeast of this were three other buildings placed in a row, which together formed the imaret (a soup kitchen ). This set of buildings was begun in 1617 and probably finished in 1620. The three structures include a pantry, a kitchen and oven, and a dining hall. The kitchen building is a square structure with four domes and several chimneys, while

47008-407: Was built as part of the complex. It contains spaces for around 200 shops. It too was completed in 1617. In 1912, it was destroyed by fire but it was restored from its ruined state between 1982 and 1985. It is now open as a bazaar, catering especially to tourists. Pope Benedict XVI visited the Blue Mosque on 30 November 2006 during his visit to Turkey. It was only the second papal visit in history to

47234-411: Was buried in a tomb he designed for himself at a street corner next to the Süleymaniye complex in Istanbul. Davud Agha succeeded Sinan as chief architect. Among his most notable works, all in Istanbul, are the Cerrahpaşa Mosque (1593), the Koca Sinan Pasha Complex on Divanyolu (1593), the Gazanfer Ağa Medrese complex (1596), and the Tomb of Murad III (completed in 1599). Some scholars argue that

47460-401: Was carried out by Davud Agha , Sinan's later successor. The Çemberlitaş Hamam , located across the channel on Divanyolu street, was also built by Sinan to contribute to the revenues of this complex. The plan of the Atik Valide Mosque, as mentioned earlier, is centered on a hexagonal baldaquin again. It partly reverts to the design of the earlier Sinan Pasha Mosque, while combining it with

47686-411: Was completed after his death by Suleiman in 1522. It was quite possibly founded by Suleiman too, though the exact foundation date is not known. The mosque is modelled on the Mosque of Bayezid II in Edirne, consisting of one large single-domed chamber. The mosque is sometimes attributed to Sinan but it was not designed by him and the architect in charge is not known. The Tomb of Selim I, located behind

47912-417: Was completed in 1565–1566 or in 1569–1571. In addition to the mosque it includes a madrasa, a caravanserai, a hammam, and a mektep (primary school), all of which is centered around a market street ( arasta ). The complex was designed to act as a staging post (or menzil ) for travelers and traders which formed the nucleus of a new Ottoman urban center. Similar complexes were built on many trade routes across

48138-401: 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

48364-412: 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

48590-418: 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

48816-579: Was intended to be a rival to the nearby Hagia Sophia. The larger complex includes a market, madrasa, and the Tomb of Ahmed I , while other structures have not survived. In the mosque's prayer hall the central dome is flanked by four semi-domes just like the Şehzade Mosque, with additional smaller semi-domes opening from each larger semi-dome. The four pillars supporting the central dome are massive and more imposing than in Sinan's mosques. The lower walls are lavishly decorated with Iznik tiles : historical archives record that over 20,000 tiles were purchased for

49042-410: Was located outside the old city walls it had plenty of open space, which allowed Sinan to design a complex with greater symmetry than most of the complexes he designed in urban Istanbul. In addition to the western part of the complex completed in 1558–1559, a madrasa (the Salimiyya Madrasa ) was added on its eastern side later, completed in 1566–1567. The Damascus complex is roughly contemporary with

49268-430: 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

49494-405: Was purely focused on heightening and emphasizing the central dome. Sinan's early innovations are also evident in the way he organized the structural supports of the dome. Instead of having the dome rest on thick walls all around it (as was previously common), he concentrated the load-bearing supports into a limited number of buttresses along the outer walls of the mosque and in four pillars inside

49720-481: Was strongly influenced by Byzantine architecture , particularly the Hagia Sophia , and blended it with other influences to suit Ottoman needs. Architects typically experimented with different combinations of conventional elements including domes , semi-domes , and arcaded porticos . Successful architects such as Sinan demonstrated their skill through their meticulous attempts to solve problems of space, proportion, and harmony. Sinan's most important works include

49946-480: Was the Haseki Hürrem Complex in Istanbul, dated to 1538–1539 and commissioned by Haseki Hürrem Sultan , Suleiman's wife. He also built the Tomb of Hayrettin Barbaros in the Beşiktaş neighbourhood in 1541. Sinan's first major commission was the Şehzade Mosque complex, which Suleiman dedicated to Şehzade Mehmed , his son who died in 1543. The mosque complex was built between 1545 and 1548. Like all imperial külliye s, it included multiple buildings, of which

50172-420: 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 ,

50398-475: Was the Hüsrev Pasha Mosque complex in Aleppo , one of the first major Ottoman monuments in that city. Its mosque and madrasa were completed in 1536–1537, though the completion of the overall complex is dated by an inscription to 1545, by which point Sinan had already moved on to Istanbul. (The complex has since been severely damaged during the Syrian civil war . ) After his appointment to chief court architect in 1538, Sinan's first commission for Suleiman's family

50624-445: Was the culmination of the period of architectural exploration in the late 15th century and was the last step towards the classical Ottoman style. The deliberate arrangement of established Ottoman architectural elements into a strongly symmetrical design is one aspect which denotes this evolution. The mosque was again part of a larger külliye complex with multiple buildings serving different functions. The mosque structure consists of

50850-458: Was to a large degree a development of the prior approaches as they evolved over the 15th and early 16th centuries and the start of the classical period is strongly associated with the works of Mimar Sinan . During this period the bureaucracy of the Ottoman state, whose foundations were laid in Istanbul by Mehmet II, became increasingly elaborate and the profession of the architect became further institutionalized. The Ottoman administration included

51076-475: Was used: usually brick covered with plaster painted to look like marble. The classical period is also notable for the development of Iznik tile decoration in Ottoman monuments, with the artistic peak of this medium beginning in the second half of the 16th century. Between the reigns of Bayezid II and Suleiman I, the reign of Selim I saw relatively little building activity. The Yavuz Selim Mosque complex in Istanbul, dedicated to Selim and containing his tomb,

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