Sinan’s works continue to amaze visitors to Istanbul

By Metin Demirsar

Istanbul (Dunya) – A well-known French architect invited recently to Istanbul to take on a major design project in Turkey was given a tour of the 16th century Suleymaniye, the Mosque Complex of Suleyman the Magnificent.

The Frenchman was so dumbfounded, awed and humbled by the grandeur, splendor, simplicity and symmetry of the huge complex that he turned back the offer given to him.
“I can’t work on a project here when you have such great architectural traditions and masters. I would feel like a pygmy among giants,” he was quoted as saying.  
The Suleymanye Complex, composed of 15 buildings, including a mosque, a bazaar, mausoleums and tombs, numerous courtyards and a caravansary, is one of the grand works of Mimar Sinan (1489-1588), who is considered among the greatest building engineers of all time.
“For the 50 consecutive years that he served as chief imperial architect of three sultans (from 1538 to 1588), Mimar Sinan came to be identified as the master of classical  Ottoman Islamic architecture,” the late Aptullah Kuran, a professor of architecture and art history, wrote in a book on the chief architect.

Contemporary of Michelangelo

Mimar Sinan was a contemporary of Michelangelo (1475-1564) and was to Islamic art and architecture what the Italian sculptor and architect was to the high Renaissance and Christian art, Prof. Kuran wrote.
The Ottoman architect is credited with constructing 477 buildings, including 107 large city mosques, 52 mescits (small mosques), 45 turbes (or imperial mausoleums),  74 medresses (schools of higher Islamic learning), eight Darulkurra (Koranic schools), and six Islamic primary schools.
He is also credited with having built three hospitals, 22 soup kitchens for the poor, 31 hans (business centers in Ottoman times) and Caravanserais, 38 palaces, five mansions, eight cellars, 56 Turkish baths, nine bridges and seven aqueducts and water pools.
Some 336 of Mimar Sinan’s works were constructed within the boundaries of Istanbul province – 200 within the walls of the city. Some 141 buildings were located outside Istanbul, in Anatolia and the Balkans and the Middle East. Many of his works are standing today in excellent state of preservation. But some are in ruins or have disappeared altogether under modern apartment buildings, new roads and modern infrastructure.

Christian conscript

The son of a stonemason of Armenian or Greek Christian origin, Mimar Sinan was born in Agirnas, in Kayseri province. As a young lad, he was inducted into the Janissaries, which was the elite army corps of the Ottoman sultan composed of mainly Christian conscripts, and he was raised as a Muslim in the Palace Court. He also received a technical education.
He took part in the military campaigns of the sultans as an engineer,  designing and building bridges, urban structures and religious edifices wherever he went.

The Suleymaniye

The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne was considered his masterpiece because of its resemblance to the Haghia Sofia, the 6th century Byzantine basilica, but his most famous work was the Suleymaniye.
Built on behalf of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent (1494-1566), under whose reign the Ottoman Empire reached its zenith, the complex was constructed on several levels on one of the original seven hills of Istanbul, and can be seen from the Galata Bridge, Istanbul Harbor, Uskudar, Beyoglu and the Golden Horn.
Some 3,523 workers were employed during the construction of the Suleymaniye from 1550 to 1557.
The mosque is the centerpiece of the Suleymaniye, located in the center of a vast outer courtyard. The mosque has four minarets said to represent Suleyman, the fourth sultan to rule from Istanbul, while the 10 balconies of the minarets denoted he was the 10th sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Severe simplicity and grandeur characterize the tiled interior of the mosque.
The mausoleums of Suleyman the Magnificent and his favored wife, Hurrem, or Roxelina, the Ukrainian-born slave girl who won over his love with her beauty and political intrigues, are located in the garden behind the mosque. Suleyman’s sarcophagus is the biggest in the building and his turban is mounted on the western end.
A series of medresses and a soup kitchen for the poor surround the outer precinct of the complex.
The Mausoleum of Mimar Sinan is small and modest, compared to that of his master Suleyman, and is located in the northern corner of the complex.

Rustem Pasa Mosque

A walk down the hill through the busy and crowded bazaar area brings one to Rustem Pasha Mosque, one of the smaller but more beautiful Islamic shrines built by Mimar Sinan.
Rustem Pasha, twice Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) under Suleyman the Magnificent and husband of his favored daughter, the Princess Mihrimah, had the mosque constructed in 1561. The mosque, built on a high terrace overlooking the markets, is especially famed for its exquisite blue Iznik tiles.

The Sehzade Complex

The mosque complex of Sehzade, one of Sinan’s great works in the city, is located across from the Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul.
The Sehzade Camii (Mosque of the Prince) was built by Suleyman the Magnificent in memory of his eldest son, Prince Mehmet, 22, who died from smallpox in 1543.