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107-478: The Piyale Pasha Mosque was designed by Ottoman imperial architect Mimar Sinan for the vizier and grand admiral Piyale Mehmed Pasha . The mosque was built between 1565 and 1573. Unlike other mosques designed by Sinan that have a large central dome, the Piyale Pasha Mosque is constructed with six identical domes, arranged as two rows of three, each with a diameter of about 9 m (30 ft). It

214-406: 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

321-421: A cobalt-blue background. The interior walls are now whitewashed but they were originally decorated. The stained-glass in the windows of the qibla wall is not original. The domed octagonal mausoleum to the northwest of the mosque contains the tomb of Piyale Pasha together with those of his sons and daughters. Altogether there are thirteen sarcophagi. His wife, Gevherhan Sultan (daughter of Selim II ), remarried and

428-491: 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,

535-407: 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

642-568: A domed hall adjoined by an open portico on its southwest side. The design of the Selimiye Mosque has influenced the architecture of some later mosques. The form of the Laleli Mosque in Istanbul, built in the 18th century in an otherwise Ottoman Baroque style , is based on that of the Selimiye Mosque. The modern Sabancı Merkez Mosque in Adana , completed in 1998, was modelled in part on

749-422: A dramatic approach that helps to frame the view of the main dome from outside. The central outer gate on the northwest side of the courtyard is unusually simple, as the customary muqarnas canopy is replaced by a simple round arch. Inside, the courtyard is surrounded by four porticos of arches and domes. The southeastern portico, immediately preceding the entrance to the prayer hall, is significantly taller than

856-584: 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

963-515: 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

1070-462: 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

1177-500: A larger domed dershane (classroom) on one side. Both were completed by Sinan while he was still in Edirne to oversee the mosque's construction. The Dar'ül Kurra Medrese now houses the Selimiye Foundation Museum ( Selimiye Vakıf Müzesi ), which opened in 2006 and displays art and artefacts from religious foundations ( vakif s ) in and around Edirne. It was previously converted to a city museum in 1930, on

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1284-579: 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

1391-502: 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

1498-465: 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

1605-437: 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

1712-463: A new imperial mosque, located on the hilltop above the Old Mosque, were probably begun around the same time. Construction on the mosque was begun in 1568 or 1569 (976 AH ) and completed in 1574 or 1575 (982 AH). The mosque's construction and its waqf (charitable endowment) were ultimately funded with the help of the sultan's share of the spoils from the successful conquest of Cyprus , which

1819-591: 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

1926-473: 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

2033-478: A passion for the city, having served as its governor between 1548 and 1550, and he visited it frequently after becoming sultan. Edirne, a former Ottoman capital, was also one of the most important cities in the empire and a major stop on the imperial highway between Istanbul and the Balkan provinces. Other motivations may have included the fact that there were no more prominent hilltop sites in Istanbul available for

2140-588: 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

2247-518: 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

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2354-564: 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

2461-519: A work of his apprenticeship period and the Süleymaniye Mosque , which is the work of his qualification stage. The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne is the product of his master stage. Şehzade Mosque is the first of the grand mosques created by Sinan. The Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, which is also known as the Üsküdar Quay Mosque, was completed in the same year and has an original design with its main dome supported by three half domes. When Sinan reached

2568-429: Is an Ottoman imperial mosque , located in the city of Edirne (formerly Adrianople), Turkey . It was commissioned by Sultan Selim II and was built by the imperial architect Mimar Sinan between 1568 and 1575. It was considered by Sinan to be his masterpiece and is one of the highest achievements of Islamic architecture as a whole and Ottoman architecture in particular. The mosque, together with its külliye ,

2675-476: 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

2782-831: Is entombed in Selim II's mausoleum next to Hagia Sophia . A number of identical Iznik tiled lunette panels that are now on display in the Musée du Louvre in Paris , the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London are believed to have been removed from the Piyale Pasha Mosque in the 19th century. The panels would have been placed above the lower row of windows. Another possibility

2889-473: Is heavily fluted and decorated. The wooden doors of the entrance are said to have been taken from the Ulu Cami (Great Mosque) of Birgi . 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

2996-543: 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

3103-424: Is one of only two mosques in Istanbul with multiple domes, the other being Vasat Atik Ali Pasha Mosque . The domes are supported in the center of the prayer hall by a pair of slender granite pillars. The minaret is placed in the centre of the anti- qibla wall. It was rebuilt in the middle of the 19th century. Around three walls of the interior are a row of Iznik tiles with inscriptions in a white thuluth script on

3210-416: Is one of the finest examples of its kind from this period, but it lacks the usual roof and canopy. Doğan Kuban believes that this indicates it was never completed, while Gülru Necipoğlu states that this merely further emphasizes the view of the mosque's main dome above. The entrance portal to the mosque's prayer hall has a more typical muqarnas canopy, while the dome covering the space in front of it

3317-424: Is said to declare: "In this mosque...I [have] erected a dome six cubits higher and four cubits wider than the dome of Hagia Sophia." The mihrab is set back from the rest of the prayer hall, standing in an apse -like projection with enough depth to allow for window illumination from three sides. This has the effect of making the tile panels of its lower walls sparkle with natural light. The tiles on either side of

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3424-518: Is that the lunette tiles came from a now demolished kiosk that was associated with the mosque. Two tiles from another lunette panel and a pair of tiles that probably came from the mihrab were sold at auction by Christie's in 2004. 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

3531-466: 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

3638-947: 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

3745-596: The Dar'ül Kurra Medrese (a school for Qur'anic recitation ) and a Dar-ül Hadis Medrese (a hadith school). The Dar'ül Kurra Medrese occupies the southeastern corner of the complex and the Dar-ül Hadis Medrese occupies the northeastern corner, both arranged in a symmetrical configuration around the main axis of the complex. Both structures consist of an internal square courtyard surrounded by porticos on four sides, rows of small domed rooms on two sides, and

3852-558: The Ethnography Museum of Ankara . It was first opened in 1925 and was reopened in 2012 after a long restoration. The complex also includes a sibyan mektebi (elementary school) and an arasta (covered market street), located along the southern perimeter of the complex. These were added later and it's possible that they were completed instead by Davud Agha , Sinan's successor as chief court architect, though Sinan may have designed them. The sibyan mektebi consists of

3959-489: The Qur'an . The large lower windows around the courtyard are surmounted by decorative lunettes , except for the two windows on either side of the entrance portal, which are set below muqarnas niches instead. The lunettes of the windows on the prayer hall side are filled with Iznik tiles painted with calligraphy . The marble shadirvan or ablutions fountain in the center of the courtyard, made of carved and pierced stone,

4066-609: 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

4173-590: 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

4280-648: 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

4387-722: 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

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4494-496: 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

4601-620: 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,

4708-533: The siege of the city in 1913 , the dome of the mosque was damaged by artillery fire. On the orders of Atatürk , traces of the damage were left unrestored, as a reminder and warning to future generations. Soon after, at the end of the Second Balkan War , some of the mosque's oldest carpets were stolen by retreating Bulgarian troops. The mosque underwent restorations between 1954 and 1971, and some parts were also restored between 1982 and 1984. The mosque

4815-413: The "octagonal baldaquin" design he had experimented with earlier. In this design the main dome is supported by a system of eight pillars incised in a rectangular shell of walls. This was the most effective available method of integrating the round dome with the rectangular hall below while minimizing the space occupied by the supporting elements of the dome. The ingenuity of the mosque's design lies in

4922-772: 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

5029-610: The Iskele Mosque, the sultan ordered Sinan to build a new major mosque with an adjoining complex in memory of his favourite son. This Şehzade Mosque would become larger and more ambitious than his previous ones. Architectural historians consider this mosque as Sinan's first masterpiece. Obsessed by the concept of a large central dome, Sinan turned to the plans of mosques such as the Fatih Pasha Mosque in Diyarbakır or

5136-688: 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

5243-430: 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

5350-560: 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

5457-499: 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,

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5564-527: 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

5671-561: The Selimiye Mosque for its size and height, which is approximately the same diameter as the Hagia Sophia's main dome and slightly higher; the first time that this had been achieved in Ottoman architecture. The hemispherical dome has a diameter of 31.28 metres (102.6 ft). Its exact height is sometimes disputed but is approximately 42 metres (138 ft). In the Tezkiratü'l-Bünyan , the biography written by Sa'i Mustafa Çelebi, Sinan

5778-728: 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

5885-657: The Taṣ Han at Erzurum . He designed a caravanserai in Eregli and an octagonal madrasah in Constantinople. Between 1553 and 1555, Sinan built the Sinan Pasha Mosque at Beşiktaş , a smaller version of the Üç Şerefeli Mosque at Edirne , for the Grand Admiral Sinan Pasha . This proves again that Sinan had thoroughly studied the work of other architects, especially since he was responsible for

5992-654: 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:

6099-475: 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

6206-606: 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

6313-408: The center of the hall, directly under the main dome. This position, which obscures the view of the mihrab from the mosque entrance, is unusual in Ottoman architecture and was never repeated by Sinan. It may have been placed there to further emphasize the centrality of the dome above. The elevated platform is made of beautifully-painted wood supported by twelve low arches with multifoil forms. Under

6420-400: The central domed baldaquin structure, ensuring that the dome therefore dominated the view from anywhere a visitor could stand. Another of Sinan's primary objectives was to surpass the size of the Hagia Sophia 's central dome, allegedly motivated by Christian architects who claimed that Muslims were not capable of matching the construction of that dome. Sinan's biographies praise the dome of

6527-527: 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

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6634-409: The construction of an imperial mosque complex – at least not without resorting to mass expropriations. At the time of the mosque's commission, Selim II had also not commanded a victorious military campaign, which Islamic scholars of the time considered to be a requirement for building a sultanic mosque in Istanbul. In March 1568, Selim II had asked Sinan to renovate the city's Old Mosque . Plans for

6741-631: 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

6848-532: 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

6955-493: The dome. The long-distance comparison with the Hagia Sophia was indirectly reiterated when the latter acquired a second pair of minarets in the same configuration, designed by Sinan during the reign of Murad III ( r.  1574–1595 ). The mosque stands at the center of a külliye (a religious and charitable complex) within an outer perimeter wall, occupying an elevated site measuring approximately 130 by 190 metres (430 by 620 ft). The complex includes two madrasas :

7062-528: 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

7169-403: The interior with light. The style of this revolutionary building was as close to the Gothic style as Ottoman structure permits. In 1566 Sinan completed the Banya Bashi Mosque in Sofia , Bulgaria , currently the only functioning mosque in the city. His first mosque in Sofia was built in 1528; popularly known as Imaret Mosque or Black Mosque due to the dark colour of its building stone, it

7276-443: 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

7383-406: 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

7490-415: 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

7597-463: 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

7704-467: 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

7811-478: The main pillars, are intermediary sections between the walls and the main dome. Compared to the semi-domes in some other Ottoman mosques, they are much smaller in relation to the main dome. Sinan also made good use of the spaces between the supporting pillars and buttresses by filling them with an elevated gallery inside the prayer hall, matched on the outside by arched porticos. The elevated galleries inside help to eliminate what little ground-level space exists beyond

7918-406: The mihrab are excellent examples of Iznik tilework. The mihrab itself is made of marble and is a good example of Ottoman stone-carving in this period, with a muqarnas hood and an inscription band. The mihrab decoration culminates above in a curved triangle set between two alem s (a type of finial on a flagpole). The minbar , standing next to the mihrab area, is among the finest examples of

8025-414: The mosque is marked by four minarets that are some of the tallest Ottoman minarets ever built, standing at 70.89 meters tall. In order to accentuate and draw attention to the central dome of the mosque, the traditional placement of different-sized minarets around the four corners of the courtyard was abandoned in favour of four identical minarets standing at the four corners of the prayer hall, thus framing

8132-524: 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

8239-729: The opening of the Suleymaniye Mosque), 50 lira 1988 (400th anniversary of Sinan's death) and a set of 4 issued on 14 November 2007 (60, 70, 70 & 80 Kurus - Sinan and his works). Sinan is portrayed in Elif Shafak 's 2013 novel The Architect's Apprentice , with the fictional main character becoming his apprentice. Sinan, also called Mimar Sinan ("Architect Sinan") or Mimar Koca Sinan ("Great Architect Sinan") (born c. 1490, Ağırnaz, Turkey—died July 17, 1588, Constantinople [now Istanbul]), Selimiye Mosque (Edirne) The Selimiye Mosque ( Turkish : Selimiye Camii )

8346-412: 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

8453-524: The orders of Atatürk, then served various other functions including an office, a student hostel, and a warehouse, before the current museum. The Dar-ül Hadis Medrese now houses the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts of Edirne ( Türk İslam Eserleri Müzesi ), which displays objects of Islamic art from the region of Edirne as well as objects granted from the collections of the Topkapı Palace Museum and

8560-413: The organization of its interior space. All of the architectural elements are subordinated to the huge central dome. The eight massive pillars are partly freestanding but closely integrated with the outer walls. Additional outer buttresses are concealed in the outer shell of the mosque, allowing the walls in between them to be pierced with a large number of windows. Four semi-domes at the corners, between

8667-423: The other three porticos in order to match the great height of the mosque itself. This portico is composed of three wide arches with two very small arches between them, a configuration vaguely resembling a triumphal arch and very different from the earlier monumental portico designed by Sinan for the Süleymaniye Mosque . The façades above these arches are decorated with two marble circles inscribed with quotes from

8774-622: 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

8881-554: 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

8988-440: The platform is a marble fountain for ablutions and drinking. The decoration around the mosque's interior includes marble stonework, painted decoration, and more Iznik tilework. Most of the painted decoration, which includes arabesque motifs, plant or flower motifs, and calligraphic inscriptions, mostly dates from a 19th-century restoration under Sultan Abdülmecid I and from later restorations. The original painted decoration

9095-526: 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

9202-462: The reign of Abdülmecid I (1839–1861), the mosque's interior was re-plastered and its decoration redone, in a style partially imitating the former ornamentation. In 1865, Baha'u'llah , the founder of the Baha'i Faith , arrived with his family to Edirne as a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire and resided in a house near Selimiye Mosque, which he visited often until 1868. It was at Selimiye mosque where he

9309-405: 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,

9416-404: 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

9523-415: 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 sultan's private balcony for prayers, or hünkâr mahfili , is set in an elevated position in the mosque's eastern corner and is also decorated with excellent Iznik tiles. A müezzin mahfili , a platform for the muezzin , stands in

9630-640: 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

9737-410: 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

9844-483: 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

9951-489: 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

10058-542: 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

10165-550: 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

10272-500: 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

10379-544: 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

10486-509: Was completed in 1571 with the surrender of Famagusta . Selim II died in December 1574, before he was able to see the mosque fully completed. The mosque underwent its first repairs by Sinan in 1584, after minor damage caused by lightning. An earthquake in 1752 also caused minor damage. In 1808 some of the calligraphic decoration in the mosque was restored and a roof was added over the courtyard fountain, though it has since disappeared. During

10593-591: 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

10700-469: 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

10807-503: Was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 10,000 lira banknotes of 1982-1995. In late 2021 another comprehensive restoration project on the mosque began, scheduled to be completed by 2025. The mosque is widely regarded as Sinan's crowning masterpiece, and Sinan himself regarded it as his best work. The main building consists of two equal parts: a rectangular courtyard and a rectangular prayer hall, each measuring about 60 by 44 metres (197 by 144 ft). The mosque's courtyard forms

10914-525: 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

11021-423: Was included on UNESCO 's World Heritage List in 2011. The Selimiye Mosque was built at the peak of Ottoman military and cultural power. Sultan Selim II , the son and successor of Suleiman the Magnificent , chose Edirne instead of Istanbul (the Ottoman capital) as the location to build his own sultanic mosque . The reasons for this decision are a matter of debate among historians. Selim II appeared to have

11128-556: Was probably similar to the decoration of other Classical-period mosques. It included calligraphy by Hasan Karahisari (apprentice of Ahmed Karahisari ) which was praised by Ottoman writers who saw it. Some of the best-preserved painted decoration from the Classical period (16th-17th centuries), uncovered during a 1980s restoration, can be found on the wooden surfaces of the müezzin mahfili . The windows were probably originally decorated with coloured Venetian glass . The exterior of

11235-587: 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

11342-694: Was supposed to have had an open debate with Mírzá Yaḥyá Núrí (also known by the title of Ṣubḥ-i-Azal), an important event in the split of the Bábi Faith , which ultimately resulted in the formation of the Baha'i Faith guided by Baha'u'llah and the Azali Bábi Faith guided by Mírzá Yaḥyá. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 , some of the decorative tiles on the walls of the sultan's loge were looted and transferred to Moscow. During

11449-614: 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 ,

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