Sinan
Encyclopedia
Koca Mi'mâr Sinân Âğâ (c. 1489/1490 – July 17, 1588) was the chief Ottoman
architect (Turkish
: "Mimar") and civil engineer for sultans Suleiman the Magnificent
, Selim II
, and Murad III
. He was responsible for the construction of more than three hundred major structures and other more modest projects, such as his Islam
ic primary schools (sibyan mektebs).
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 ağa
. 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 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 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, including Sedefkar Mehmed Agha, architect of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. 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 the Sublime Porte to submit plans for a bridge spanning the Golden Horn.
.
or a Greek
in a small town called Aghurnas
(present-day Mimarsinanköy) near the city of Kayseri
in Anatolia
(as stated in an order by Sultan Selim II
). One argument that lends credence to his Armenian background is a letter he wrote to Selim II in 1573, asking the Sultan to spare his relatives from the general exile of Kayseri's Armenian community to the island of Cyprus
. The scholars who support the thesis of his Greek background have identified his father as a stonemason and carpenter
by the name of Christos (Greek
"Χρήστος"), a common Greek name meaning "the anointed one". It is also probable that he had both Greek and Armenian relatives (from his paternal and maternal families) since both ethnic groups had large communities in the Kayseri area during that period. All that is certain is that they were of the Eastern Orthodox Christian
faith, since the Ottoman
archives of that epoch recorded only religion
information about the population. The concept of ethnicity was irrelevant to the religion-based Ottoman Millet system
.
Sinan (Joseph) 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 in the library of the Topkapı Palace
, dictated by Sinan to his friend Mustafa Sâi Çelebi. (Anonymous Text; Architectural Masterpieces; Book of Architecture). In these manuscripts, Sinan divulges some details of his youth and military career. His father is mentioned as "Abdülmenan" or "Abdullāh" (Arabic
عبد الله), meaning Servant of God
and are anonyms for the Christian fathers of Muslim converts.
Corps, and converted to Islam. He was too old (over twenty-one years) to be admitted to the imperial Enderun School
in the Topkapı Palace
but was sent instead to an auxiliary school. Some records claim that he might have served the Grand Vizier
Pargalı İbrahim Pasha
as a novice of 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 the Sultan died, this project ended. Two years later he witnessed the conquest of Belgrade
. He was present, as a member of the Household Cavalry, in the Battle of Mohács
, led by the new sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
. 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 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 expedition to Corfu
and Apulia
and finally to Moldavia
.
During all these campaigns he had proven himself a trained engineer and an able architect. When the Ottoman army captured Cairo
, Sinan 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 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, Architect of the Abode of Felicity. This was the start of a remarkable career. It was his task to supervise the constructions and 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 Court Architects, training a team of assistants, deputies and pupils.
and Michelangelo
.
Various sources state that Sinan was the architect of around 360 structures which included 84 mosques, 51 small mosques ("mescit"), 57 schools of theology ("medrese") 7 schools for Koran reciters ("darülkurra"), 22 mausoleums ("türbe
"), 17 Alm Houses ("imaret"), 3 hospitals ("darüşşifa"), 7 aqueducts and arches, 48 inns ("caravansary"), 35 palaces and mansions, 8 vaults and 46 baths. Sinan held 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 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 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 (101.7 ft) of the Selimiye Mosque which Sinan completed when he was 80, is the most outstanding example of 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 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 is the nearly 635 me Büyükçekmece Bridge. Other important examples are the Ailivri Bridge, the Lüleburgaz (Sokullu Mehmet Pasha) Bridge on the Lüleburgaz River, the Sinanlı Bridge over the river Ergene and the Drina Bridge, which gave its name to the famous novel by the Yugoslav author Ivo Andrić
.
While Sinan was maintaining and improving 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 (843.2 ft) long and 35 m (114.8 ft)35 meters 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 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 the traditions by adding innovations, trying to approach perfection.
His first opportunity to design a major building 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 a modest Haseki Hürrem complex for Roxelana
(Hürem Sultan), the wife of the sultan, Süleyman 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.
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, the admiral is not buried there, but in his türbe next to the Iskele mosque. This mausoleum has been severely neglected since then.
Mihrimah Sultana, the only daughter of Süleyman 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: a spacious, high-vaulted basement, slender minarets, single-domed baldacchino, flanked by three semi-dome
s ending in three exedra
e 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 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 Süleyman the Magnificent returned from another Balkan campaign, he received news that his heir to the throne Ṣehzade Mehmet had died at the age of twenty-two. In November 1543, not long after Sinan had started the construction of 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 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 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.
. 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 his royal architect 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 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 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, 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 Mehmet Pasha Mosque
at Kadırga.
While he was fully occupied with the construction of the Süleymaniye, Sinan or his subordinates drew up the plans and gave instructions for many other constructions. But it is highly improbable that he personall supervised the construction of the provincial assignments.
Sinan built a mosque for the Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha and a funeral monument (türbe) at Silivrikapı (Constantinople) in 1551.
The next Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha
gave Sinan several more commissions. In 1550 Sinan 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 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 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 applying this hexagonal form, Sinan could reduce the side domes to half-domes and set them in 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 Hamam, replacing the antique Baths of Zeuxippus
which are still standing close to the Hagia Sophia
. This would become one of 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 Kanlıka, 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 the Rüstem Pasha Mosque
, as a memorial supervised by his widow Mihrimah Sultana. 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 funeral monument (türbe) for Rüstem Pasha in the garden of the Şehzade Mosque
, decorated with the finest tiles Iznik
could produce. Mihrimah Sultana, having doubled her wealth after the death of her husband, now wanted a mosque of her own. Sinan built for her the Mihrimah Camii at Edirnekapı (Edirne Gate), 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 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 of 37 m high and 20 m wide, supported by pendentive
s, 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 the interior with light. The style of this revolutionary building was as close to the Gothic
style as Ottoman structure permits.
Between 1560 and 1566 Sinan built a mosque in Constantinople for Zal Mahmud Pasha
on 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 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.
According to him from his autobiography "Tezkiretü’l Bünyan", his masterpiece 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 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 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 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 the tallest in the Muslim world, accentuating the vertical posture of this mosque that already dominates the city.
He also designed the Taqiyya al-Sulaimaniyya khan
and mosque in Damascus
, still considered one of the city's most notable monuments, as well as the Banya Bashi Mosque
in Sofia
, Bulgaria
, currently the only functioning mosque in the city.
He has also built Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge
in Višegrad
across the Drina River in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina
which is now UNESCO World Heritage Site.
When Sinan died, the 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.
, and thus a slave of the sultan, his primary responsibility was to the sultan. In his spare time, he also designed buildings for the chief officials. He delegated to his assistants the construction of less important buildings in the provinces.
Some of his works:
, a türbe of his own design, in the cemetery just outside the walls of the Süleymaniye Mosque
to the north, across a street named Mimar Sinan Caddesi in his honour. He was buried near the tombs of his greatest patrons: Sultan Süleyman and the Sultana
Haseki Hürrem
, Suleiman's wife.
His name is also given to:
Sinan's portrait was depicted on the reverse
of the Turkish 10,000 lira
banknotes of 1982-1995.
Tertiary Sources Zaryan, Armen. «Սինան» (Sinan). Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. vol. x. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences
, 1984, pp. 385–386.
(1988). "Les Mosquées de Sinan", Les Dossiers d'archéologie, May 1988, number 127. Stierlin, Henri (1988). "Sinan et Soliman le Magnifique", Les Dossiers d'archéologie, May 1988, number 127. Topçu, Ali (1988a) "Sinan et l'architecture civile", Les Dossiers d'archéologie, May 1988, number 127. Topçu, Ali (1988b)."Sinan et la modernité", Les Dossiers d'archéologie, May 1988, number 127.
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
architect (Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
: "Mimar") and civil engineer for sultans Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
, Selim II
Selim II
Selim II Sarkhosh Hashoink , also known as "Selim the Sot " or "Selim the Drunkard"; and as "Sarı Selim" or "Selim the Blond", was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574.-Early years:He was born in Constantinople a son of Suleiman the...
, and Murad III
Murad III
Murad III was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death.-Biography:...
. He was responsible for the construction of more than three hundred major structures and other more modest projects, such as his Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic primary schools (sibyan mektebs).
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
Janissary
The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
commander, with the honorific title of ağa
Agha
Agha, also Aga , as a title for a civil or military officer, or often part of such title, was placed after the name of certain military functionaries in the Ottoman Empire...
. 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 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 post for almost fifty years.
His masterpiece is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
Edirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
, although his most famous work is the Suleiman Mosque
Suleiman Mosque
The Süleymaniye Mosque is an Ottoman imperial mosque located on the Third Hill of Istanbul, Turkey. It is the second largest mosque in the city, and one of the best-known sights of Istanbul.-History:...
in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. He headed an extensive governmental department and trained many assistants who, in turn, distinguished themselves, including Sedefkar Mehmed Agha, architect of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. He is considered the greatest architect of the classical period of Ottoman architecture, and has been compared to Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
, his contemporary in the West. Michelangelo and his plans for St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
in Rome were well-known in Istanbul, since Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
and he had been invited, in 1502 and 1505 respectively, by the Sublime Porte to submit plans for a bridge spanning the Golden Horn.
.
Early years and background
According to contemporary biographer, Mustafa Sâi Çelebi, Sinan was born in 1489 (c. 1490 according to the Encyclopædia Britannica and 1491 according to the Dictionary of Islamic Architecture) with the name Joseph. He was born either an ArmenianArmenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
or a Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
in a small town called Aghurnas
Agirnas
Ağırnas is a township with own municipality in Central Anatolia, Turkey, within the boundaries of Kayseri metropolitan area and administratively depending Kayseri's metropolitan municipality of Melikgazi, although it retains its distinct character...
(present-day Mimarsinanköy) near the city of Kayseri
Kayseri
Kayseri is a large and industrialized city in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Kayseri Province. The city of Kayseri, as defined by the boundaries of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality, is structurally composed of five metropolitan districts, the two core districts of Kocasinan and...
in Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
(as stated in an order by Sultan Selim II
Selim II
Selim II Sarkhosh Hashoink , also known as "Selim the Sot " or "Selim the Drunkard"; and as "Sarı Selim" or "Selim the Blond", was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574.-Early years:He was born in Constantinople a son of Suleiman the...
). One argument that lends credence to his Armenian background is a letter he wrote to Selim II in 1573, asking the Sultan to spare his relatives from the general exile of Kayseri's Armenian community to the island of Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
. The scholars who support the thesis of his Greek background have identified his father as a stonemason and carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
by the name of Christos (Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
"Χρήστος"), a common Greek name meaning "the anointed one". It is also probable that he had both Greek and Armenian relatives (from his paternal and maternal families) since both ethnic groups had large communities in the Kayseri area during that period. All that is certain is that they were of the Eastern Orthodox Christian
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
faith, since the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
archives of that epoch recorded only religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
information about the population. The concept of ethnicity was irrelevant to the religion-based Ottoman Millet system
Millet (Ottoman Empire)
Millet is a term for the confessional communities in the Ottoman Empire. It refers to the separate legal courts pertaining to "personal law" under which communities were allowed to rule themselves under their own system...
.
Sinan (Joseph) 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 in the library of the Topkapı Palace
Topkapi Palace
The Topkapı Palace is a large palace in Istanbul, Turkey, that was the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans for approximately 400 years of their 624-year reign....
, dictated by Sinan to his friend Mustafa Sâi Çelebi. (Anonymous Text; Architectural Masterpieces; Book of Architecture). In these manuscripts, Sinan divulges some details of his youth and military career. His father is mentioned as "Abdülmenan" or "Abdullāh" (Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
عبد الله), meaning Servant of God
Abdullah (name)
Abdullah or Abdallah is the primary transliteration of the Arabic given name, , built from the Arabic words Abd and Allah . The first letter a in al-Ilah in its native pronunciation is often unstressed and commonly transliterated by u, a stressed a is often used as well, although any vowel can also...
and are anonyms for the Christian fathers of Muslim converts.
Military career
In 1512, Sinan was conscripted into Ottoman service via the devshirme system. He went to Constantinople as a recruit of the JanissaryJanissary
The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
Corps, and converted to Islam. He was too old (over twenty-one years) to be admitted to the imperial Enderun School
Enderun School
Enderun School which meant "inner most" was a free-boarding school for the Christian Millet of the Ottoman Empire, which recruited students via Devshirme - an enculturation system of the Christian youngsters for learning the characteristics of the Islamic society and the unique culture of the...
in the Topkapı Palace
Topkapi Palace
The Topkapı Palace is a large palace in Istanbul, Turkey, that was the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans for approximately 400 years of their 624-year reign....
but was sent instead to an auxiliary school. Some records claim that he might have served the Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...
Pargalı İbrahim Pasha
Pargali Ibrahim Pasha
Pargali Ibrahim Pasha , also known as Frenk Ibrahim Pasha , Makbul Ibrahim Pasha , and referred to him as Maktul Ibrahim Pasha after his murder in the Topkapı Palace, was the first Grand Vizier in the Ottoman Empire appointed by Suleiman the Magnificent...
as 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
Selim I
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain , nicknamed Yavuz "the Stern" or "the Steadfast", but often rendered in English as "the Grim" , was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to...
in his last military campaign, Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
according to some sources, but when the Sultan died, this project ended. Two years later he witnessed the conquest of Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. He was present, as a member of the Household Cavalry, in the Battle of Mohács
Battle of Mohács
The Battle of Mohács was fought on August 29, 1526 near Mohács, Hungary. In the battle, forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia were defeated by forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent....
, led by the new sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
. 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 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 expedition to Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
and Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
and finally to Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
.
During all these campaigns he had proven himself a trained engineer and an able architect. When the Ottoman army captured Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Sinan 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
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
. He converted churches into mosques. During the Persian campaign in 1535 he built ships for the army and the artillery to cross Lake Van
Lake Van
Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey, located in the far east of the country in Van district. It is a saline and soda lake, receiving water from numerous small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains. Lake Van is one of the world's largest endorheic lakes . The original outlet from...
. For this he was given the title Haseki'i, Sergeant-at-Arms in the body guard of the Sultan, a rank equivalent to that of the Janissary
Janissary
The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
Ağa.
When Chelebi Lütfi Pasha became Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...
in 1539, he appointed Sinan, who had previously served under his command, Architect of the Abode of Felicity. This was the start of a remarkable career. It was his task to supervise the constructions and 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 Court Architects, training a team of assistants, deputies and pupils.
Work
His training as an army engineer gave Sinan an empirical approach to architecture rather than a theoretical one. But the same can be said of the great Western Renaissance architects, such as BrunelleschiFilippo Brunelleschi
Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. He is perhaps most famous for inventing linear perspective and designing the dome of the Florence Cathedral, but his accomplishments also included bronze artwork, architecture , mathematics,...
and Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
.
Various sources state that Sinan was the architect of around 360 structures which included 84 mosques, 51 small mosques ("mescit"), 57 schools of theology ("medrese") 7 schools for Koran reciters ("darülkurra"), 22 mausoleums ("türbe
Turbe
Türbe is the Turkish word for "tomb", and for the characteristic mausoleums, often relatively small, of Ottoman royalty and notables. It is related to the Arabic turba, which can also mean a mausoleum, but more often a funerary complex, or a plot in a cemetery.-Characteristics:A typical türbe...
"), 17 Alm Houses ("imaret"), 3 hospitals ("darüşşifa"), 7 aqueducts and arches, 48 inns ("caravansary"), 35 palaces and mansions, 8 vaults and 46 baths. Sinan held 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 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 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 (101.7 ft) of the Selimiye Mosque which Sinan completed when he was 80, is the most outstanding example of 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 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 is the nearly 635 me Büyükçekmece Bridge. Other important examples are the Ailivri Bridge, the Lüleburgaz (Sokullu Mehmet Pasha) Bridge on the Lüleburgaz River, the Sinanlı Bridge over the river Ergene and the Drina Bridge, which gave its name to the famous novel by the Yugoslav author Ivo Andrić
Ivo Andric
Ivan "Ivo" Andrić was a Yugoslav novelist, short story writer, and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. His writings dealt mainly with life in his native Bosnia under the Ottoman Empire...
.
While Sinan was maintaining and improving 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 (843.2 ft) long and 35 m (114.8 ft)35 meters 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 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 the traditions by adding innovations, trying to approach perfection.
The early years (till the mid-1550s) : apprenticeship period
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 was the Hüsrev Pasha mosque and its double medresse
Madrasah
Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
in Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
, 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 a modest Haseki Hürrem complex for Roxelana
Roxelana
Haseki Hürrem Sultan was the wife of Süleyman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire.-Names:Sixteenth-century sources are silent as to her maiden name, but much later traditions, for example Ukrainian folk traditions first recorded in the 19th century, give it as "Anastasia" , and Polish...
(Hürem Sultan), the wife of the sultan, Süleyman 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.
In 1541, he started the construction of the mausoleum (türbe) of the Grand Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa. It stands on the shore of Beşiktaş
Besiktas
Beşiktaş is a municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and on the east by the Bosphorus...
on the European part of Istanbul, at the site where his fleet used to assemble. Oddly enough, the admiral is not buried there, but in his türbe next to the Iskele mosque. This mausoleum has been severely neglected since then.
Mihrimah Sultana, the only daughter of Süleyman and wife of the Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha
Rüstem Pasha
Rüstem Pasha Opukovic was a Croat who became an Ottoman general and statesman. He served as the Grand Vizier of Suleiman the Magnificent. Rüstem Pasha is also known as Damat Rüstem Pasha and Rüstem Paşa .-Biography:Rüstem Pasha was born in Skradin, Croatia...
gave Sinan the commission to build a mosque with medrese (college), an imaret
Imaret
An imaret is one of a few names used to identify the Ottoman soup kitchens built throughout the Ottoman Empire from the 14th into the 19th century. These public kitchens were often part of a larger complex known as a Waqf, which could include hospices, mosques, caravanserais and colleges...
(soup kitchen) and a sibyan mekteb (Qur'an school) in Üsküdar
Üsküdar
Üsküdar is a large and densely populated municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, on the Anatolian shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered on the north by Beykoz, on the east by Ümraniye, on the southeast by Ataşehir, on the south by Kadıköy, and on the west by the Bosphorus, with the areas of Beşiktaş,...
. The imaret no longer exists. This Iskele Mosque (or Jetty mosque) already shows several hallmarks of Sinan's mature style: a spacious, high-vaulted basement, slender minarets, single-domed baldacchino, flanked by three semi-dome
Semi-dome
A semi-dome, also called a "half-dome", is the term in architecture for half a dome , used to cover a semi-circular area. Similar structures occur in nature.-Architecture:...
s ending in three exedra
Exedra
In architecture, an exedra is a semicircular recess or plinth, often crowned by a semi-dome, which is sometimes set into a building's facade. The original Greek sense was applied to a room that opened onto a stoa, ringed with curved high-backed stone benches, a suitable place for a philosophical...
e and a broad double portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
. 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 the Rüstem Pasha Mosque in Tekirdağ
Tekirdag
Tekirdağ , the ancient Bisanthi , is a city in Eastern Thrace, in the European part of Turkey. Tekirdağ is the capital of Tekirdağ Province, felt by the local people to be a quieter and more pleasant town than the industrial centre of Çorlu, which it administers. The city population as of 2009 was...
. The inner portico traditionally have stalactite
Stalactite
A stalactite , "to drip", and meaning "that which drips") is a type of speleothem that hangs from the ceiling of limestone caves. It is a type of dripstone...
capitals while the outer portico has capitals with chevron patterns (baklava).
When sultan Süleyman the Magnificent returned from another Balkan campaign, he received news that his heir to the throne Ṣehzade Mehmet had died at the age of twenty-two. In November 1543, not long after Sinan had started the construction of 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
Sehzade Mosque
The Şehzade Mosque is an Ottoman imperial mosque located in the district of Fatih, on the third hill of Istanbul, Turkey. It is sometimes referred to as the “Prince's Mosque” in English.-History:...
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
Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...
or the Piri Pasha Mosque in Hasköy
Hasköy
Hasköy is a:* District of Muş Province of Turkey.* Also the Turkish name for Haskovo, Bulgaria.* A neighborhood of Istanbul, Hasköy, Istanbul...
. 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 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
Sultan Ahmed Mosque
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is a historical mosque in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey and the capital of the Ottoman Empire . The mosque is popularly known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior....
in an attempt to lighten their appearance. Sinan, however, rejected this solution in his next mosques.
The period from the mid-1550s to 1570: qualification stage
By 1550 Sultan Süleyman 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 the others, to be built on a gently sloping hillside dominating the Golden HornGolden Horn
The Golden Horn is a historic inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the natural harbor that has sheltered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other ships for thousands of...
. 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 his royal architect Sinan to build a mosque, the Süleymaniye, surrounded by a külliye
Külliye
Külliye, deriving from the Arabic word "kull" is a term which designates a complex of buildings, centered around a mosque and managed within a single institution, often based on a vakıf , and composed of a medrese, a darüşşifa, kitchens, bakery, hammam, other buildings for various benevolent...
consisting of four colleges, a soup kitchen, a hospital, an asylum, a hamam
Hamam
Hamam may refer to:* Turkish bath in Turkish* Hamam , a 1997 European film directed by Ferzan Özpetek* Hamam , brand of soap in India* Sam Hammam , Lebanese businessman and football club owner...
, a caravanserai
Caravanserai
A caravanserai, or khan, also known as caravansary, caravansera, or caravansara in English was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey...
and a hospice for travellers (tabhane). Sinan, now heading 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
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...
. 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
Leone Battista Alberti
Leon Battista Alberti was an Italian author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, cryptographer and general Renaissance humanist polymath...
(who in turn had studied De architectura by the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius
Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
), 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, 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 Mehmet Pasha Mosque
Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque
-External links:*, at "Respect to Sinan" *...
at Kadırga.
While he was fully occupied with the construction of the Süleymaniye, Sinan or his subordinates drew up the plans and gave instructions for many other constructions. But it is highly improbable that he personall supervised the construction of the provincial assignments.
Sinan built a mosque for the Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha and a funeral monument (türbe) at Silivrikapı (Constantinople) in 1551.
The next Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha
Rüstem Pasha
Rüstem Pasha Opukovic was a Croat who became an Ottoman general and statesman. He served as the Grand Vizier of Suleiman the Magnificent. Rüstem Pasha is also known as Damat Rüstem Pasha and Rüstem Paşa .-Biography:Rüstem Pasha was born in Skradin, Croatia...
gave Sinan several more commissions. In 1550 Sinan built a large inn (han) in the Galata district of Istanbul. About ten years later he built another han in Edirne
Edirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
, and between 1544 and 1561 the Taṣ Han at Erzurum
Erzurum
Erzurum is a city in Turkey. It is the largest city, the capital of Erzurum Province. The city is situated 1757 meters above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 361,235 in the 2000 census. .Erzurum, known as "The Rock" in NATO code, served as NATO's southeastern-most air force post during the...
. He designed a caravanserai
Caravanserai
A caravanserai, or khan, also known as caravansary, caravansera, or caravansara in English was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey...
in Eregli
Eregli
Ereğli is a town and district of Konya Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. According to 2009 census, the population of the district is 135,008 of which 95,056 live in the town of Ereğli.-History:...
and an octagonal madrasah
Madrasah
Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
in Constantinople.
Between 1553 and 1555, Sinan built the Sinan Pasha Mosque
Sinan Pasha Mosque (Istanbul)
The Sinan Pasha Mosque is an Ottoman mosque located in a densely populated district of Beşiktaş, in Istanbul, Turkey. It was built by famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan from the order of the admiral Sinan Pasha. The türbe of Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha is located just across the street...
at Beşiktaş
Besiktas
Beşiktaş is a municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and on the east by the Bosphorus...
, a smaller version of the Üç Şerefeli Mosque
Üç Şerefeli Mosque
The Üç Şerefeli Mosque is an old Ottoman mosque in Edirne, Turkey. It was built from the order of Sultan Murat II. The mosque is located in the historical center of the city, close to other prominent historical mosques, Selimiye Mosque and Old Mosque...
at Edirne
Edirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
, for the Grand Admiral Sinan Pasha
Sinan Pasha (Ottoman admiral)
Sinanüddin Yusuf Pasha or in short Sinan Pasha, was a Kapudan Pasha of the Ottoman Navy for nearly four years between 1550 and the end of 1553, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent...
. This proves again that Sinan had thoroughly studied the work of other architects, especially since he was responsible for 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
Kara Ahmet Pasha Mosque
The Kara Ahmet Pasha Mosque is an Ottoman mosque along the city walls in Istanbul, Turkey.Kara Ahmet Pasha Mosque, also known as Gazi Ahmet Paşa Camii is one of Mimar Sinan's lesser-known achievements...
in Constantinople, his first hexagonal mosque. By applying this hexagonal form, Sinan could reduce the side domes to half-domes and set them in 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
Atik Valide Mosque
The Atik Valide Mosque is an Ottoman mosque located on the hill above a large and densely populated district of Üsküdar, in Istanbul, Turkey....
at Üsküdar
Üsküdar
Üsküdar is a large and densely populated municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, on the Anatolian shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered on the north by Beykoz, on the east by Ümraniye, on the southeast by Ataşehir, on the south by Kadıköy, and on the west by the Bosphorus, with the areas of Beşiktaş,...
.
In 1556 Sinan built the Haseki Hürrem Hamam, replacing the antique Baths of Zeuxippus
Baths of Zeuxippus
The Baths of Zeuxippus were popular public baths in the city of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. They were built between 100 to 200, destroyed by the Nika revolt of 532 and then rebuilt several years later. They were so called because they were built upon the site where a Temple...
which are still standing close to the Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...
. This would become one of 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
Iskender Pasha
Iskender Pasha , also Iskender Paşa, was an Ottoman Commander and the beylerbey of Oczakov . In 1620 Iskender Paşa led an Ottoman army, with Wallachian contingents against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the Battle of Ţuţora , where he was victorious.-Notes:...
at Kanlıka, beside the Bosphorus. This was one of the many minor and routine commissions the office of Sinan received over the years.
Rüstem Pasha Mosque
-External links:* ** *...
, as a memorial supervised by his widow Mihrimah Sultana. It is situated just below the Süleymaniye. This time the central form is octagonal, modelled on the monastery church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus
Saints Sergius and Bacchus
Saints Sergius and Bacchus , were third century Roman soldiers who are commemorated as martyrs by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches...
, with four small semi-domes set in the corners. In the same year, Sinan built a funeral monument (türbe) for Rüstem Pasha in the garden of the Şehzade Mosque
Sehzade Mosque
The Şehzade Mosque is an Ottoman imperial mosque located in the district of Fatih, on the third hill of Istanbul, Turkey. It is sometimes referred to as the “Prince's Mosque” in English.-History:...
, decorated with the finest tiles Iznik
Iznik
İznik is a city in Turkey which is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea, the first and seventh Ecumenical councils in the early history of the Church, the Nicene Creed, and as the capital city of the Empire of Nicaea...
could produce. Mihrimah Sultana, having doubled her wealth after the death of her husband, now wanted a mosque of her own. Sinan built for her the Mihrimah Camii at Edirnekapı (Edirne Gate), 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 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 of 37 m high and 20 m wide, supported by pendentive
Pendentive
A pendentive is a constructive device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to points at the bottom and spread at the top to establish the continuous circular or...
s, 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 the interior with light. The style of this revolutionary building was as close to the Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style as Ottoman structure permits.
Between 1560 and 1566 Sinan built a mosque in Constantinople for Zal Mahmud Pasha
Zal Mahmud Pasha Mosque
The Zal Mahmud Pasha Mosque is an old Ottoman mosque located near the Eyüp Sultan Mosque in the Eyüp district of Istanbul, Turkey. It was built by Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan for Vizier Zal Mahmud Pasha. The exact construction date is unknown...
on 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 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.
The period from 1570 to his death: master stage
In this late stage of his life, Sinan tried to create unified and sublimely elegant interiors. To achieve this, he eliminated all the unnecessary subsidiary spaces beyond the supporting piers of the central dome. This can be seen in the Sokollu Mehmet Paşa mosque in 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.Edirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the 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
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...
and specially as Muslims" was his main motivation. When it was completed, Sinan claimed that it had 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 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
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
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 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 the tallest in the Muslim world, accentuating the vertical posture of this mosque that already dominates the city.
He also designed the Taqiyya al-Sulaimaniyya khan
Caravanserai
A caravanserai, or khan, also known as caravansary, caravansera, or caravansara in English was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey...
and mosque in Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, still considered one of the city's most notable monuments, as well as the Banya Bashi Mosque
Banya Bashi Mosque
Banya Bashi Mosque is a mosque in Sofia, Bulgaria. Its construction was completed in 1576, during the years the Ottomans had control of the town. The mosque derives its name from the phrase Banya Bashi, which means many baths...
in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, currently the only functioning mosque in the city.
He has also built Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge
Mehmed Paša Sokolovic Bridge
The Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge is a historic bridge in Višegrad, over the Drina River in eastern Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was completed in 1577 AD by the Ottoman court architect Mimar Sinan on the order of the Grand Vizier Mehmed Paša Sokolović...
in Višegrad
Višegrad
Višegrad is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is part of the Republika Srpska entity. It is on the river Drina, located on the road from Goražde and Ustiprača towards Užice, Serbia.-History:...
across the Drina River in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
which is now UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Conclusion
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 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 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 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, a community centre and serving the social needs and the health problems of the faithful.When Sinan died, the 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.
Constructions
During his tenure during 50 years of the post of imperial architect, Sinan is said to have constructed or supervised 476 buildings (196 of which still survive), according to the official list of his works, the Tazkirat-al-Abniya. He couldn't possibly have designed them all, but he relied on the skills of his office. He took credit and the responsibility for their work. For, as a janissaryJanissary
The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
, and thus a slave of the sultan, his primary responsibility was to the sultan. In his spare time, he also designed buildings for the chief officials. He delegated to his assistants the construction of less important buildings in the provinces.
- 94 large mosques (camii),
- 57 colleges,
- 52 smaller mosques (mescit),
- 48 bath-houses (hamamHamamHamam may refer to:* Turkish bath in Turkish* Hamam , a 1997 European film directed by Ferzan Özpetek* Hamam , brand of soap in India* Sam Hammam , Lebanese businessman and football club owner...
). - 35 palaces (saray),
- 22 mausoleums (türbe),
- 20 caravanseraiCaravanseraiA caravanserai, or khan, also known as caravansary, caravansera, or caravansara in English was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey...
(kervansaray; han), - 17 public kitchens (imaret),
- 8 bridges,
- 8 store houses or granaries
- 7 Koranic schools (medrese),
- 6 aqueductAqueductAn aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
s, - 3 hospitals (darüşşifa)
Some of his works:
- Azapkapi Sokullu Mosque in IstanbulIstanbulIstanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
- Caferağa MedressehCaferaga MedressehThe Caferağa Medresseh is a former medresseh, located in Istanbul, Turkey, next to the Hagia Sophia. It was built in 1559 by Mimar Sinan by orders of Cafer Agha, a eunuch during the reign of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent...
- Selimiye Mosque in EdirneEdirneEdirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
- Süleymaniye Complex
- Kılıç Ali Pasha ComplexKilic Ali Pasha ComplexThe Kılıç Ali Pasha Complex is a group of buildings designed and built between 1580 and 1587 by Mimar Sinan, who at the time was in his 90s. The mosque itself was constructed in 1578-1580....
- Molla Çelebi MosqueMolla Çelebi MosqueThe Molla Çelebi Mosque , sometimes known as Fındıklı Mosque is an Ottoman mosque located in the Fındıklı neighbourhood of Beyoğlu district in Istanbul, Turkey. It was built by Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan from the order of Kazasker Mehmet Vusuli Efendi, Chief Judge of Istanbul...
- Haseki Baths
- Piyale Pasha Mosque
- Şehzade MosqueSehzade MosqueThe Şehzade Mosque is an Ottoman imperial mosque located in the district of Fatih, on the third hill of Istanbul, Turkey. It is sometimes referred to as the “Prince's Mosque” in English.-History:...
- Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in Edirnekapı
- Mehmed Paša Sokolović BridgeMehmed Paša Sokolovic BridgeThe Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge is a historic bridge in Višegrad, over the Drina River in eastern Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was completed in 1577 AD by the Ottoman court architect Mimar Sinan on the order of the Grand Vizier Mehmed Paša Sokolović...
in VišegradVišegradVišegrad is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is part of the Republika Srpska entity. It is on the river Drina, located on the road from Goražde and Ustiprača towards Užice, Serbia.-History:... - Nisanci Mehmed Pasha Mosque
- Rüstem Pasha MosqueRüstem Pasha Mosque-External links:* ** *...
- Zal Mahmud Pasha MosqueZal Mahmud Pasha MosqueThe Zal Mahmud Pasha Mosque is an old Ottoman mosque located near the Eyüp Sultan Mosque in the Eyüp district of Istanbul, Turkey. It was built by Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan for Vizier Zal Mahmud Pasha. The exact construction date is unknown...
- Kadirga Sokullu Mosque
- Koursoum Mosque or Osman Shah Mosque in TrikalaTrikalaTrikala is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece. It is the capital of the Trikala peripheral unit, and is located NW of Athens, NW, of Karditsa, E of Ioannina and Metsovo, S of Grevena, SW of Thessaloniki, and W of Larissa...
- Al-Takiya Al-Suleimaniya in DamascusDamascusDamascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
- Yavuz Sultan Selim MadrasYavuz Sultan Selim Madras-History of the “Yavuz Sultan Selim Medrese”:The “Yavuz Sultan Selim Medrese” was built by Mimar Sinan in memory of Selim the first from 1548 till 1550...
- Mimar Sinan Bridge in BüyükçekmeceBüyükçekmeceBüyükçekmece is a district and municipality in the suburbs of Istanbul, Turkey on the Sea of Marmara coast of the European side, west of the city. It is largely an industrial area with a population of 380,000...
- Church of the AssumptionChurch of the Assumption (Uzundzhovo)The Church of the Assumption is a Bulgarian Orthodox church in the village of Uzundzhovo, Haskovo Municipality, Bulgaria. Built as a mosque during the Ottoman era, it was reconstructed in 1906 as a church.-History:...
in UzundzhovoUzundzhovoUzundzhovo is a village in southeastern Bulgaria, part of Haskovo municipality, Haskovo Province. As of 2008, it has a population of 1,727 and the mayor is Vancho Vanchev. The village lies in the agricultural Upper Thracian Plain , east of Haskovo, south of Dimitrovgrad and west of Simeonovgrad... - Tekkiye MosqueTekkiye MosqueThe Tekkiye Mosque is a mosque complex in Damascus, Syria, located on the banks of the Barada River. The complex is composed of a large mosque on the southwest side of a courtyard, flanked by a single line of arcaded cells, and a soup kitchen across the courtyard to the northwest, flanked by...
- Khusruwiyah MosqueKhusruwiyah MosqueThe Khusruwiyah Mosque is a mosque complex in Aleppo, Syria. It is located south of the Citadel, facing its main entrance. The mosque was built under the patronage of the Hüsrev Pasha, while he was serving as the fourth vizier under Sultan Suleiman I...
- Oratory at the Western WallWestern WallThe Western Wall, Wailing Wall or Kotel is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount...
Death
He died in 1588 and is buried in a tomb in IstanbulIstanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, a türbe of his own design, in the cemetery just outside the walls of the Süleymaniye Mosque
Suleiman Mosque
The Süleymaniye Mosque is an Ottoman imperial mosque located on the Third Hill of Istanbul, Turkey. It is the second largest mosque in the city, and one of the best-known sights of Istanbul.-History:...
to the north, across a street named Mimar Sinan Caddesi in his honour. He was buried near the tombs of his greatest patrons: Sultan Süleyman and the Sultana
Sultana (title)
The term Sultana is an Islamic title reserved for a few Muslim women rulers in history. It is sometimes mistaken for the title of the chief wife of a Sultan.-Overview:The most famous Sultana was Razia Sultana of India....
Haseki Hürrem
Roxelana
Haseki Hürrem Sultan was the wife of Süleyman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire.-Names:Sixteenth-century sources are silent as to her maiden name, but much later traditions, for example Ukrainian folk traditions first recorded in the 19th century, give it as "Anastasia" , and Polish...
, Suleiman's wife.
His name is also given to:
- a craterSinan (crater)Sinan is an impact crater on the planet Mercury, 147 kilometers in diameter. It is located at 15.5°N, 29.8°W, northeast of the crater Yeats and southeast of the crater Li Po. It has one craterlet on the south-southwestern side of the crater floor, and it has a symmetrical pit slightly west of the...
on the planet MercuryMercury (planet)Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
. - A Turkish state university, the Mimar Sinan University of Fine ArtsMimar Sinan University of Fine ArtsMimar Sinan Fine Arts University is a Turkish state university dedicated to the higher education of fine arts. It is located in the Fındıklı neighborhood of İstanbul, Turkey.-History:...
in Istanbul.
Sinan's portrait was depicted on the reverse
Obverse and reverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags , seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse...
of the Turkish 10,000 lira
Turkish lira
The Turkish lira is the currency of Turkey and the de facto independent state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The lira is subdivided into 100 kuruş...
banknotes of 1982-1995.
See also
- Isa Muhammad EffendiUstad IsaIsa Muhammad Effendi, Ustad Isa ) was a Turkish architect from Istanbul he and his colleague Ismail Effendi entered the service of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan after the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV and the Mughals exchanged ambassadors...
- Sedefkar Mehmed Agha
- Sinan (crater)Sinan (crater)Sinan is an impact crater on the planet Mercury, 147 kilometers in diameter. It is located at 15.5°N, 29.8°W, northeast of the crater Yeats and southeast of the crater Li Po. It has one craterlet on the south-southwestern side of the crater floor, and it has a symmetrical pit slightly west of the...
- Mimar Sinan University
- Atik SinanAtik SinanSinan-i Atik, also known as Azadlı Sinan and Atik Sinan , born in Istanbul, was an Ottoman architect for Sultan Mehmed II during the 15th century...
Further reading
Çelebi, Sai Mustafa (2004). Book of Buildings : Tezkiretü'l Bünyan Ve Tezkiretü'l-Ebniye (Memoirs of Sinan the Architect). Koç Kültür Sanat Tanıtım ISBN 975-296-017-0- De Osa, Veronica (1982). Sinan the Turkish Michelangelo. New York: Vantage Press ISBN 0533046556 Egli, Ernst (1954). Sinan, der Baumeister osmanischer Glanzzeit, Erlenbach-Zürich, Verlag für Architektur; ISBN 1 904772 26 9
- Goodwin, Godfrey (2001). The Janissaries. London: Saqi Books. ISBN 9780863560552
- ———————— (2003). "A History of Ottoman Architecture". London: Thames & Hudson Ltd (1971, reprinted 2003) ISBN 9780500274293
- Güler, AraAra GülerAra Güler is a Turkish photojournalist of Armenian descent, nicknamed "the Eye of Istanbul" or "the Photographer of Istanbul".- Early life :...
; Burelli, Augusto Romano; Freely, John (1992). Sinan: Architect of Suleyman the Magnificent and the Ottoman Golden Age. WW Norton & Co. Inc. ISBN 0-500-34120-6 - Kinross, Patrick (1977). The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire London: Perennial. ISBN 9780688080938
- Kuran, Aptullah. (1987). Sinan: The Grand Old Master of Ottoman architecture, Ada Press Publishers. ISBN 0-941469-00-X Kuran, Aptullah; Ara Güler (Illustrator); Mustafa Niksarli (Illustrator). (1986) Mimar Sinan. Istanbul: Hürriyet Vakfi. ISBN 3-89122-007-3
- Rogers, J M. (2005). Sinan. I.B. TaurisI.B. TaurisI. B. Tauris is an independent publishing house with offices in London and New York.-History:I.B.Tauris was founded in 1983. Its declared strategy was to fill the perceived gap between trade publishing houses and university presses—that is, to publish serious but accessible works on international...
ISBN 1-84511-096-X - Saoud, Rabat (2007). Sinan: The Great Ottoman Architect and Urban Designer. Manchester: Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation.
- Sewell, BrianBrian SewellBrian Sewell is an English art critic and media personality. He writes for the London Evening Standard and is noted for artistic conservatism and his acerbic view of the Turner Prize and conceptual art...
. (1992) Sinan: A Forgotten Renaissance CornucopiaCornucopia (magazine)Cornucopia is a magazine about Turkish culture, art and history, published jointly in the United Kingdom and Turkey.-Content:Cornucopia was founded by John Scott and Berrin Torolsan in 1992. It is an English Language magazine that concerns Turkish culture...
, Issue 3, Volume 1. ISSN 1301-8175 - Turner, J. (1996). Grove Dictionary of ArtGrove Dictionary of ArtGrove Art Online, formerly The Dictionary of Art but usually known as The Grove Dictionary of Art, is a large encyclopedia of art, now part of the online reference publications of Oxford University Press, and previously a 34-volume printed encyclopedia when last published on paper in 1996...
, Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, USA; New Ed edition; ISBN 0-19-517068-7 - Van Vynckt, Randall J. (editor). (1993) International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture Volume 1. Detroit: St James Press. ISBN 1-55862-089-3
- Vasari, G.Giorgio VasariGiorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...
(1963). The Lives of Painters, Sculptors and Architects. (Four volumes) Trans: A.B. Hinds, Editor: William Gaunt. London and New York: Everyman. - Wilkins, David G. Synan in Van Vynckt (1993), p. 826.
- A Guide to Ottoman Bulgaria" by Dimana Trankova, Anthony Georgieff and Professor Hristo Matanov; published by Vagabond Media, Sofia, 2011 http://www.vagabond.bg/ottomanbulgaria
Tertiary Sources Zaryan, Armen. «Սինան» (Sinan). Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. vol. x. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences
Armenian Academy of Sciences
The Armenian Academy of Sciences is the primary body that conducts research in and coordinates activities in the fields of science and social sciences in the Republic of Armenia. It was founded on November 29, 1943...
, 1984, pp. 385–386.
See also
Roux, Jean-PaulJean-Paul Roux
Jean-Paul Roux, PhD was a French Turkologue and a specialist of Islamic culture.He was a graduate of Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, the École du Louvre, and the École Pratique des Hautes Études. In 1966 he was awarded a doctorate in literature in Paris...
(1988). "Les Mosquées de Sinan", Les Dossiers d'archéologie, May 1988, number 127. Stierlin, Henri (1988). "Sinan et Soliman le Magnifique", Les Dossiers d'archéologie, May 1988, number 127. Topçu, Ali (1988a) "Sinan et l'architecture civile", Les Dossiers d'archéologie, May 1988, number 127. Topçu, Ali (1988b)."Sinan et la modernité", Les Dossiers d'archéologie, May 1988, number 127.
External links
- Mimar Sinan founder of this Foundation - with a picture of his last will and proof of his original name
- Pictures of the city of Edirne, with many pictures of the Selimiye Mosque
- A map and a short guide for Sinan's works in Istanbul
- Photos of some Sinan mosques in Istanbul
- Map of some Sinan mosques in Istanbul
- Master Builder of the 16th Century Ottoman Mosque
- Respect to Sinan (tribute site)
- Mimar Sinan Bridge in Büyükçekmece
- The Ottoman architect who linked East and West
- Peerless Turkish architect claimed to be headless in tomb
- Mimar Sinan's life and works