Mimar Sinan's Routes

A major assessment of the works of celebrated Ottoman architect, Mimar Sinan (1489-1588). Presents a cultural and social history of Ottoman architecture in the early modern eastern Mediterranean world.

This book is an attempt to outline the development of art and architecture in Anatolia. While covering the works made possible by this genius who holds an unsurpassed position in the history of Turkey, as well as the handicrafts of the same period, each in their own sections, the book tries to highlight both the architectural currents existing prior to Sinan and those architectural creations in Post-Sinan periods that remained faithful to his legacy. The final section rounds out by discussing such traditional art forms as woodworking, metal working, tilemaking, cloth, miniatures, carpets, hat (calligraphy) and tezhip ("gold gilding" or "illumination"), which served as complementary elements of architecture.

"During the height of the Ottoman Empire twelve-year-old Johan arrived in Istanbul to become an animal tamer to the white elephant Chota, befriend the sultan's beautiful daughter, and become an apprentice to Sinan, the empire's chief architect. As they build masterpieces, dangerous undercurrents begin to emerge, with jealousy erupting among Sinan's four apprentices"--

Sinan was the greatest architect of the Ottoman Golden Age - when the Empire reached its zenith of power and magnificence. His style marks the apogee of Turkish art and this volume is a magnificent testament to the achievement of a man who stamped his imprint on an entire culture Beginning as a military engineer and designer of fortifications, he was appointed Chief Imperial Architect in 1538. While Michelangelo was working on St. Peter's, Sinan completed the greatest of Turkish mosques, the Süleymaniye and the Selimiye. Under Süleyman the Magnificent and his successor Selim II, Sinan designed hundreds of buildings: mosques, palaces, tombs, mausolea, hospitals, schools, caravanserai, bridges, aqueducts and baths. As he himself said, 'with time each edifice became - with the help of Allah and thanks to the generosity and benevolence of the State - the very image of the world in the lands ruled by the Ottoman dynasty.' In his greatest works he adapted Byzantine and Islamic styles to produce something quite new: a centralized organization of absolute space unhindered by pillars or columns and covered by a soaring dome. An architect of genius in a dynamic new empire expanding into both Asia and Europe, he was a true man of the Renaissance. Opulent colour photographs, many taken specially by Ara Güler for this publication, pay tribute to the extraordinary space and light of Sinan's buildings. Texts by the most important specialists in this field complement the handsome visual material and offer new interpretations of Sinan's art.