Suleymaniye Mosque

Introduction
Historical Context
Suleyman the Magnificent
1. Ascension to the Throne
The Construction of Suleymaniye Mosque
1. Design and Structure
2. Timeline of Construction
Visiting the Suleymaniye Mosque
1. The View and Photography Opportunities
2. The Cemetery and Tombs

1. Introduction

The biggest mosque complex in Istanbul is the Suleymaniye Mosque complex. It marks the most glorious era of the Ottoman Empire and the most powerful sultan during the reign of the Ottomans. The architect is the most talented architect of Ottoman history. All in all, it is a combination of the bests available in the 16th century.

2. Historical Context

2.1. The Era of Suleyman the Magnificent

The 16th century is the time when the Ottomans were ruling nearly one-third of the world. Like every powerful ruler, Suleyman the Magnificent wanted to order a mosque that would make his name immortal. For the construction, he had the most talented architect of the time, Sinan.

2.2. The Life and Career of Sinan

Sinan was originally from the central part of Anatolia. Most probably he was a convert meaning he was either a Greek or an Armenian originally. After losing his family at a young age, he was sent to Istanbul and was converted to the religion Islam. Then, he was sent to work for the name of the Sultan. This was a common tradition of the Ottomans in history. They were choosing young converts for working for the Sultan and those were the ones that eventually carrying the high ranks. With this, they were targeting to achieve two goals. The first goal was people carrying high ranks not to have a family outside of the palace not to create a rival family problem to the Ottoman royal family. The second goal was to create strong family relations between these converts and sultans to prevent betrayals.

2.3. Sinan's Contributions to Architecture

Sinan comes from a tradition like that and at first, he was sent to the army. He was not a regular soldier in the army but he was in the engineering unit. He built lots of bridges for the army to pass, caravansarais for the traders and the army to stay, baths for the ones who want to clean themselves, and many more. He was even promoted when he built a bridge over a river when the chief architect was unable to do so because of a powerful current. After he was promoted as the chief architect, he started building mosques for the royal family members. He stopped using early design mosques and started the classical mosques with four big columns and a single dome being carried by those columns. When the Suleymaniye Mosque was given to him, he accepted the job to create the biggest dome in Istanbul to mark the power of his sultan.

3. Suleyman the Magnificent

3.1. Ascension to the Throne

The one who gave the job to Sinan was the most powerful sultan and creating the biggest construction of the Ottomans, known as the ''Lawmaker'' by his people. Suleyman was one of the sons of Sultan Selim the 1st. He had several brothers but when his father died, he was the only son of the sultan left for the throne. So the transmission was smooth without a discussion of who was going to be the next sultan. When he came to the throne, he continued the campaigns of his father and created the biggest empire of the Turks in history. He also wanted to have the most glorious mosque to show his glory and power of his empire.

4. The Construction of Suleymaniye Mosque

4.1. Design and Structure

The Suleymaniye Mosque construction started in the time when the Sultan was the most powerful and his architect was the most talented. Sinan again used 4 giant columns and a big dome over them to create a big praying area. He was that much into details in this mosque that he also had several problems. One day, while the building was still under construction, some people went to the palace and said, ''Sinan is having a good time in the mosque. He is smoking hookah and not disturbing himself at all to finish the mosque.'' After hearing this, the Sultan got angry and wanted to check his mosque. When he arrived at the mosque, he saw that his architect was smoking hookah as the rumors and called the architect to understand this improper behavior. Sinan explained the story as he was testing the acoustics of the mosques by the bubbles of water but still the sultan was furious. He asked the architect when the mosque was going to be ready and the architect answered within months. While the sultan was thinking this was the words of a scared person, the mosque was really finished after months of this incident.

4.2. Timeline of Construction

The construction took place between the years 1551-1557 with an amazing time of 6 years. It includes a university, library, hospitals, accommodation areas, bathhouses, and a marketplace. While today many of these buildings are still visible, they all have different functions. The most amazing thing to know about this mosque is the ''soot room''. Sinan calculated how much soot the mosque creates out of the chandeliers and collected all the soot in one room inside the mosque by using winds. There they recycled soot into ink. As the quality of oil that was used in these chandeliers was quite high, the ink generated from this room was the best quality also for calligraphy.

5. Visiting the Suleymaniye Mosque

5.1. The View and Photography Opportunities

After visiting the mosque you may also have a look at the beautiful view behind the mosque. There you may take really nice pictures of the Bosphorus with the domes of the former primary schools of Suleymaniye Mosque.

5.2. The Cemetery and Tombs

Before exiting from the mosque, don't miss visiting the cemetery. There, you can have a look at the tomb of Suleyman the Magnificent and his wife Hurrem Sultan with the best examples of tiles from different corners of the empire.