View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE

provided by Istanbul Sehir University Repository uppose you had the opportunity to şirme) of Christian boys for the janis­ reshape the skyline of one of the sary corps. His home village was Ağir- Scapitals of the world — what spec­ nas (today Mimarsinan) near Kayseri. tacle would you create? Tall office build­ There’s a lot of debate about his age at ings? Mammoth indoor sports arenas? that time, largely because he lived so Large areas of parks? A memorial of long after. He must have been a bit over everything your age stands for? 20 — rather old for the usual conscript. This year the sultan who ordered One can imagine him and his com­ the changes in Istanbul over four cen­ panions who had been conscripted at turies ago is being remembered in the the same time marching briskly along a “Age of Süleyman the Magnificent Ex­ road in Central Anatolia. They were hibit” (curator: Dr. Esin Atıl) in the Unit­ probably a ragged, undisciplined bunch ed States. Over two hundred art trea­ of youths wbo looked around in raw sures are on display there: the jewels wonder at the wide world. Drawings of and rugs and calligraphy and gold of similar groups make one feel sorry for royalty. The exhibit is at the National them. How excited they must have Gallery of Art in Washington DC (Jan, been, and how tired. 25-May 17). It will go to the Art Institute When he got to İstanbul he was of Chicago (June 13-Sept. 6) and to the enrolled in school, perhaps in the bar­ Metropolitan Museum of Art in New racks now called the İbrahim Paşa York (Oct 4- Jan 17, 1988). In the Palace. Janissary recruits got a good spring of 1988 it will be at the British education; as one he would have stud­ Museum in London; then it will go to ied languages and religion, military Japan and France. arts and athletics, etiquette, law, arith­ But we who are in İstanbul are for­ THE metic and statesmanship. It was hard tunate to have some of the grandest work learning to be a janissary. But ev­ examples of the artistry of his reign eryone knew that each slave had the right here. They are part of the distin­ LEGENDARY possibility of rising to any one of a guishing features of this city. number of positions of power: judge, Can you think back to what the ARCHITECT governor, vizier or general. Each one skyline of İstanbul might have looked was also taught a trade — goldsmithing, like when Sultan Süleyman began his calligraphy, cobbling, woodworking. reign in 1520? St. Sophia was here, and Probably young Sinan’s first lessons St. Irene close by; the Mosques of were in Turkish; eventually he learned Bayezit and the old Fatih, then trees and SlNAN the craft of carpentry. houses and a few domes of smaller mosques and former churches. How His Mosques Are Paragons SİNAN THE SOLDIER undistinguished this outline would seem This was a time when the Ottoman to us now. But to have had the imagina­ of the Garden of Empire was gaining territory and power. tion (and the wealth and the mandate) Heaven Many battles were being fought, and for to envision the buildings that would them many soldiers were needed. When give this city its character — what a the army went on campaign the sol­ challenge! by Anna G. Edmonds diers had an opportunity to see distant We today are not the first ones to be countries and to advance in the service. struck by the attractive synthesis of the We know that Sinan travelled the length contours of Istanbul. In the eighteenth and breadth of the Ottoman Empire -- century Lady Mary Wortley Montague started out in the city as a slave, a Chris­ to some parts of it more than once. An wrote to her friend, Lady Bristol, “On tian boy conscripted into Sultan Selim alert youth, he paid attention to what he the European (side) stands Constan­ I’s janissary army. He might have lived saw on these campaigns, particularly the tinople, situate on seven hills. The out his life a free man, peacefully work­ buildings; he remembered them for unequal heights make it seem as large ing in his village; he might never have later use. Eventually he became a mem­ again as it is (tho’ one of the largest citys been touched by the power and the ber of the Imperial Guard, a rank of in the world), shewing an agreeable ideas shaping the Ottoman Empire in which he was proud the rest of his life. mixture of gardens, pine and cypress those years. We today would be the In that position the Sultan would have trees, palaces, mosques and publick poorer without his servitude. Perhaps known his work and his character well. buildings, rais’d one above another it’s only we who think of him as having Later he is said to have been a boon with as much beauty and appearance of been enslaved. companion of Süleyman. symetry as your Ladyship eversaw in a Many people have wondered what Like all armies, in the course of the Cabinet adorn’d by the most skilfull happened that out of obscurity and numerous battles the corps of engineers hands, jars shewing themselves above poverty a person of Sinan’s genius devel­ was called on frequently to build things: jars, mix’d with canisters, babys and oped. Two biographical novels have roads, bridges, canals and fortresses. candlesticks. This is a very odd com­ been written about him recently, one by Sinan must have sawed a lot of lumber, parison but it gives me an exact Image Arthur Stratton, another by Veronica De pounded hundreds of nails, and hit his of the thing.” * Osa. He is the subject of a forthcoming thumbs more than once during those * (Complete Letters, vol. I, p. 397. Oxford) scholarly study by Aptullah Kuran. The years. A story credits him with helping genius is part of legend. My guess is that build the ships that carried the Otto­ SİNAN’S EARLY LIFE his training went something like this: man cannons and other armaments Mimar Sinan, the architect most Sinan the son of Abdulmennan was across Lake Van during the Two Iraqs responsible for designing these changes, taken in 1512 in the regular levy (dev- campaign in 1534. In another cam­ paign, in Moldavia, he is supposed to the court and popular opinion acclaim­ upper level courtyard. Structurally and have been in charge of constructing a ed it a resounding success. A part of economically, this building is supported bridge across the River Prut. Finished that success is in Sinan’s having made by the many small shops on its ground in less than two weeks, his talent drew the inner shape of the mosque mean­ floor. the praise of Sultan Süleyman. Shortly ingful and pleasing on the outside. Sinan was usually restrained in his thereafter the Sultan made him his (This he repeated in his later works.) ornamentation of buildings, but in this Chief Court Architect. From then on, The lines of the walls, the windows, the mosque the colors and the designs of for fifty years Sinan’s genius had free domes, the weight towers and the the tiles on the walls are florid almost to scope to express in architectural terms minarets combine to cause the viewer a fault. It’s as if Sinan had said to him­ the grandeur and majesty of the empire to look up. Sinan did one thing here self, “For once I’ll show what 1 can do if that Süleyman and his son, Selim II, which he didn’t repeat: he put an elabo­ there are no limits; and even in this ruled. rate design in relief on the minarets. gaudy display I’ll create a harmony.” Perhaps he decided that it was too The tiles, both at the entrance and “APPRENTICE’ARCHITECT fussy, that the pattern detracted from inside, are so remarkable and so extrav- the total effect. agent that they usually take my atten­ Sinan’s first commission in the cap­ tion away from Sinan’s engineering ital doesn’t usually attract tourists today. MİHRİMAH AND skills. Here in this “garden” there are It was the collection of buildings en­ RÜSTEM PAŞA carnations and hyacinths and pome­ dowed by Sultan Süleyman’s wife, Hür- granates and artichokes and roses - rem Sultan (known in the West as Roxe- Sinan built two mosques in Istanbul and snails — and tulips of more designs lana). A royal foundation, the Haseki for Süleyman’s best-loved daughter, than I’ve ever been able to count. 1 never Hürrem Complex is the third largest Mihrimah. This woman’s political im­ tire of visiting the Rüstern Paşa Mosque, complex in Istanbul. The mosque is still portance increased greatly after her but for me it’s primarily an art gallery.

in use, but it has been changed so that mother, Roxelana, died and she took THE SÜLEYMANİYE its form is no longer that which Sinan over the role of advising and counsel­ gave it. The hospital, a building of quite ling Süleyman in matters of state. Two If I were asked to choose the one unusual shape, has been restored in separate mosque complexes in İstanbul mosque in Istanbul which I consider this century. According to Nimet Taşkı- carry her name, one located at the ferry the supreme example of art which ran (Hasekinin Kitabı), it was intended landing in Üsküdar, the other by the expresses the purpose of the building, originally for women because a woman land walls of the city at Edirnekapt. it would be the mosque which Sinan ordered it; now it’s a general hospital. Mihrimah’s husband was Rüstern built for his sultan. In addition to that, Columns in the school building (med­ Paşa, twice Grand Vizier under Süley­ the speed of its accomplishment amazes rese) have carved snakes — probably an man. His nickname was “Lucky Louse;” me. The construction of St. Peter’s in acknowledgment of the work of a fabled he was so stingy that he let his father Rome stretched throughout the entire early Anatolian doctor named Asclepius and brother beg in the streets of Istan­ sixteenth century; this mosque was and his descendant, Hippocrates. bul when they showed up expecting to built in seven years. And it still stands. Shortly after the Haseki Hürrem was enjoy his wealth. He sold everything he For over 400 years the Süleymaniye has built, Süleyman’s oldest son, Şehzade possibly could that would bring income represented in architecture the power Mehmet, died of smallpox. Grieving for for the Palace, including the vegetables and the mastery of Sinan,of Süleyman, the one whom he had chosen to suc­ grown in the Palace gardens. He must and of Islam. ceed him, the Sultan ordered Sinan to have been hard to live with (could Mih­ In the Süleymaniye Complex the build a great mosque in Mehmet’s mem­ rimah have been as difficult?), but he balance of mass, line and height culmi­ ory. kept the government finances in good nate in the architect’s interpretation of Sinan struggled throughout his ca­ shape. a place of worship. Western artistic reer with the refinement of the dome The mosque which Sinan built for expressions of religion, perhaps with and the inner spaces of the mosque. Rüstern Paşa in İstanbul is quite differ­ the exception of music, are in human His first attempt to solve the problem ent from the two for Mihrimah. It’s in a terms; in Islam the measure is a search­ was in the memorial to Şehzade Mehmet very dirty, crowded market section of ing for God, the ineffable. 1 attribute to which he considered an apprentice’s the city. To enter it one must duck into the Mosque of Süleyman some of the workmanship. But on its completion, a dingy flight of stairs that lead to the non-verbal qualities I strive to find in God — and in this Sinan’s genius con­ summit of his career with the Selimiye tinues to reach across the years and the Mosque in Edirne. This all the critics cultures that separate me from him. unite in judging the climax of classical Ottoman architecture. For me, I always AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT have feelings of serenity and elation OF WORK when I enter the building. The perfec­ The Mosque of Atik Valide and tion of this mosque is in its blend of Şemsi Paşa in Üsküdar, of Sokollu space and light and color, of line and Mehmet Paşa, Zal Mehmet Paşa and texture, of organization and mass and Molla Çelebi in İstanbul, the kitchens of exquisite detail. Over it all arches the Topkapı (following the fire in 1574), triumphant dome. Here is the classical and the mausoleums of Süleyman and Ottoman solution of the question of Roxelana are works of Sinan. Outside what constitutes beauty in architecture. the city there are the aqueducts in the In this building the artist’s genius com­ Belgrade Forest and the many-arched municates, through precision and bal­ bridge in Büyük Çekmece. Selimiye ance, a profound sense of aesthetic The list goes on: schools, caravan­ harmony. them to their abilities, to the tastes of serais, palaces, warehouses, baths — big Sinan became legendary even in his the local inhabitants and to the unex­ and little. He built for royalty and for lifetime, and a number of anecdotes pected pecularities of the land. This, relatively unimportant people. He often collected around him and his work. Kuran and Goodwin believe, is the rea­ built more than one building for a per­ The more important the buildings, the son for the uneven workmanship in son — a caravanserai for Rüstern Paşa in more elaborate were the stories. One many of the buildings outside İstanbul. Galata, an imaret for Hürrem Sultan in was about the Shah of Iran who wanted Unlike the miserly Rüstern Paşa, Medina, a major complex for Süleyman to belittle the power and the wealth of after Sinan had become established in in Damascus. He built — or oversaw the Süleyman and so he sent a caravan of Istanbul he took care of his family from building of — works in Jerusalem and jewels to help pay for the construction his home village. He brought one of his Sofya and Aleppo, in Kayseri and in of his mosque. The Sultan sent back his brothers to Istanbul; he remembered Trikkala, in Sarajevo and Erzurum and thanks for the stones which Sinan had his nephews and a niece in his will. Van and Mecca. Most of his work is ground up and used in the mortar of When the residents of Ağirnas were in listed in three contemporary accounts, one of the minarets. danger of being exiled to Cyprus he the Tezkiret-ül Ebniye (a register of Another story was that Süleyman intervened with the Sultan and got an buildings), written by Mustafa Şa’î, the was impatient to have his mosque fin­ order exempting them from deporta­ Tuhfet-ül Mimarin, and the Tezkiret-ül ished and kept pressing Sinan to give tion. But while we know these details Bünyan. Kuran (Sinan) has carefully him a date. Finally Sinan said, “Two about his personal life and that he was studied all the sources and determined months.” To which Süleyman retorted married and had children (who prede­ that there are 477 separate entries; of in effect, “I dare you.” Sinan scurried ceased him), little else about his charac­ this remarkable amount of work over around hiring all the laborers he could ter appears in the records. No big fights 300 were built in the environs of — among them gypsies and nomads — with his patrons, no other artistic side Istanbul. and met his deadline. At the opening to his genius, no major tragedies in his In addition to all these, as Chief ceremonies for the mosque Süleyman Court Architect Sinan was responsible life. Could such a consummate artist handed Sinan the key as the one who have been even-tempered? for the business details of an office that had earned the right to enter first. approved all the construction work in A tulip in the Selimiye in Edirne İstanbul and the major building through­ SELİMİYE-.THE CLIMAX hints at a third legend. Was this flower out the Empire. Godfrey Goodwin (A Sinan was almost 50 years old when cut on the column to mark a strange History of Ottoman Architecture) gives he built the Haseki Hürrem Complex; event on the trade route of bulbs be­ a sense of those niggling problems: he was close to 80 when he reached the tween the Middle East and Europe? Or Repairs of drains, fire safety precau­ had the land on which Sinan built the tions for wooden houses, workers de­ mosque belonged to a gardener who manding more pay, a Sultan’s meddling Süleymaniyc had been perverse when the Sultan orders for a particular marble, shop­ asked for a gift? Dainty and graceful, the keepers encroaching on the city streets, tiny tulip still hangs upside down in the a personal dispute with neighbors over middle of the mosque. his farm property at the same time that Sinan died in 1588, the Grand Old he was siphoning off water from Süley- Man, whose influence dominated Ot­ maniye for his own use — these he toman architecture for another century. managed along with training the corps His tomb is in the shadow of the of architects who worked under him. Mosque of Süleyman, a building that Among them Davut Ağa (who started belongs as much to him as to his sultan. Yeni Cami) and Mehmet Ağa (who built Much of the skyline of İstanbul is the Blue Mosque) were his protégés and defined today by the work of Sinan and successors. his prote'ge's. Envisioned when the ideas Of those younger men he must have for these buildings had not been pres­ sent many to oversee the projects that ent before, Sinan created masterpieces he is credited with in distant parts of that have stood the test of time. In them the Empire. Perhaps he sketched the the harmonious synthesis of dome and plans for the mosques outside the city; mass and original geography are Sinan’s but the local construction engineer and memorial to the greatness of the Otto­ his less-skilled workmen had to adapt man Empire.

Kişisel Arşivlerde Istanbul Belleği Taha Toros Arşivi