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Mimar Sinan
Agirnas Village, Kayseri 1450?
- Istanbul 1588
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Ottoman Architect
In Turkish architectural history, Ottoman architecture as well as Ottoman history is considered to have reached a peak in the 16th century. The architect best known during the Turkish history of this period is Sinan who stamped his mark on the architecture of his age. Details of his life are scarce. Among these are those found in Sinan's own words as written down on the authority of his friend, the decorator Mustafa Sait Celebi, "Tezkiretu'l Bunyan" and "Tezkiretu'l Ebniye". The only writer to find documents about Sinan's life and family and publish them is İ. Hakki Konyali who discusses his findings in detail. According to Konyali's published articles, Sinan was born in the reign of Selim I (1512-1520) and was brought up as a Christian until as a youth he entered Selim's service as one of the "devsirme" (forced levy) from Kayseri. As one of the young men trained at the palace school he later became a janissary and took part in the campaign against Rhodes (1529), Belgrade and Mohac (1526). In the Baghdad campaign, he took up arms as a janissary of the 82nd regiment and during the campaign became its commander. On his return from Baghdad he became part of the sultan's entourage as a member of his bodyguard. It is conjectured that it was his success as a sapper and builder of siege works that led to his rise through the ranks in the army. Knowledge of the structure of the craft which crossed Lake Van is demonstrated in his creative constructive designs. After taking part in campaigns in Torfu, Puglia, and Prut, he returned to Istanbul where he was proclaimed royal architect-in-chief. From then on until his death he was the architect or overseer of 477 works of construction or restoration. Around 300 of these were in or around Istanbul . Sinan was responsible for about 8 buildings per year in the course of his career as architect-in-chief, which lasted for 50 years, during which he served Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent for almost 28 years, Selim II for 8 and Murat III for 14. A number of his works consisted of big complexes for mosques which took years to build. So it is not certain how many of the 477 works he is said to have been responsible for were really his own work. It is known that he was responsible for every detail of the palaces and buildings in Istanbul and all the imperial constructions in other parts of the country. He was both designer and Minister of Buildings and Works as well as security guard for these constructions . In the list given in "Tezkiret'ul-Bunyan", Sinan is said to have built in Istanbul and the townships around, 85 mosques, 43 medreses, 29 hammams, 22 palaces, 19 monumental tombs, 6 caravanserais, 6 Koranic schools , 5 aqueducts, 3 schools of religion, 3 warehouses, 2 hospitals, 2 bridges, 2 cellars, 1 medical school, 1 soup-kitchen, 1 cistern and 1 palace kitchen. His name is associated in particular with the Sehzade Mehmet Mosque and the Suleymaniye Complex in Istanbul as well as the Selimiye Complex in Edirne which are all most important groups of buildings as well as turning-points in Ottoman architecture.
In Sinan's hands , as well as becoming the most important structure in pre- industrial architecture, the dome takes on an everlasting aesthetic significance. Sinan used it as a decorative as well as a structural feature and tried every variation the dome is capable of without losing its geometric shape as a half-sphere. His originality of design and great architectural skill can be seen in the schematic structures he employed in mosques of both large and medium size. His previous training in the traditions of engineering can be seen in his construction of different interiors which create that vision of infinite space which makes him immortal as an architect. Sinan's use of his great engineering skills allowed him to evaluate past experiments rationally to serve his structural creativity as an architect.
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Resources
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Dogan Kuban; "Sinan (Mimar)", Istanbul Ansiklopedisi, V. 6, p.563, Kultur Bakanligi-Tarih Vakfi Ortak Yayini, Istanbul, 1994.
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