The Main Sources of Ottoman Origins of Architecture
Architectural works were there before the origins of the Ottoman architecture. Ottoman architectures were adopted from different religions, ethnic groups, nations, and other cultures. The impressive tradition of Ottoman architecture, which was established in the sixteenth century, was adopted from two key sources. The first foundation was the sophisticated development of new architectural structures that took place all over Anatolia in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. In addition to the common mausoleums, mosques, and madrasahs, tekkes were built to shelter dervishes, who are members of spiritual dominions and other saintly people who lived communally. The tekke also known as zeviye was regularly joined to a mausoleum or mosque. The complete complex was then referred to as a külliye. The entire buildings continued to construct the central-plan structure or dome developed by the Seljuqs in Anatolia. These first sources related to the Muslim or the eastern religion structures architectures. The second source of Ottoman architecture is Christian art and their structural architectures. The Byzantine custom, as personified in Hagia Sophia, became main cause of inspiration. Byzantine influence materializes in such features as brick and stone used jointly or use of pendentive arena construction. These two are the main sources of Ottoman origins of architecture; however, they are not the only influential factors.
During early 1400’s, resulting from the attacks of the Mongolians, the Sejuks had begun to dissolve into several smaller dynasties. The aggressiveness of the Mongols created a large-scale migration into the Anatolian peninsula that would become the jewel of the Ottoman Empire. Of these tribes was the tribe of Osman. Osman established dominance in the northwestern region of Anatolia. His family, the House of Osman, created and ruled an empire that would last for over 600 years. When the Turks were first pushed into the Anatolian Peninsula they brought their culture and architecture was part of that culture. Many amazing architectural feats and advancements can be awarded to the Ottomans especially during the Age of Sinan. At its height, the empire produced some of the most amazing architectural structures the world has ever seen. Although their accomplishments were great, many of the basic structures found in their mosques, government buildings, palaces, and many other structures derived from external civilizations. These external influences included civilizations that existed before the Ottomans and even during the life of the Ottoman Empire.
Architecture in the early years of the empire was much different from that of the classical age. Ottoman architecture can be described as a massive collection of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern architectural traditions, but during the early years of the empire, the Ottoman’s had little interaction and influence from medieval Europe. Mosques, which served as a house of prayer and center of culture, are a great representation of architecture throughout the life of the empire. The Ottomans, being of turco-man, had unique architectural styles that differed from that of neighboring tribes and when the house of Osman emerged as a dominant force in Anatolia, mosques were constructed to improve life of the Turks and honor Sultans.
The Arch and the Dome Styles
The Haci Ozbek mosque is one of the earliest examples of Ottoman architecture and most importantly on of the earliest representations of the dome, which was a part of Ottoman architecture throughout the life of the empire. The Haci Ozbek was built in 1334 in Iznik, a city that was conquered by the Ottomans and added to the empire by Orhan the First. Using much of the materials from preexisting buildings in Iznik, The Ottomans built the mosque. The mosque has one dome, three arches, and a communal area. Although not a wonderful representation of grandeur Ottoman architecture, the mosque is important in understanding how Ottomans adopted architectural styles from its beginning. Of these styles are the arch and the dome.
The Arch
The arch unarguably was not an invention of the Turks. The arch existed in many forms and sizes, and for different reasons throughout Europe, parts of the Middle East, and Asia. Forms of arch like structures have been found like early as Mesopotamia, but it was the Romans that took the arch, perfected it, and demonstrated how useful this architectural style can be. The Romans used arches for many different types of structures, but with a common purpose of supporting a large amount of weight. At the time, the Ottomans were creating a dynasty, traces and examples of Roman architecture were prevalent in the Anatolian peninsula and part of Asia. At its height, the Roman Empire stretched from the northern limits of Brittan to the deserts of Egypt. At its apex, the empire included all of the Anatolian Peninsula and many territories east of the peninsula where the Turks originate. Although the empire receded and eventually fell it, it left behind many architectural works including the arch. Still standing today is proof of the Peninsula’s Roman history and the arch as three Roman aqueducts are still standing today in Turkey.
The Valens Aqueduct, which was constructed in the fourth century AD and was, supplied water to many parts of Anatolia including the Capital of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul (The Stratagems and the Aqueducts of Rome). The aqueducts were even repaired by Ottoman sultans. The influence of the arch was rich, and so was its influence on early Ottoman architecture. Ottoman sultans, and especially the early Sultans of the Empire were strong and efficient rulers, and they applied this efficiency to their empire. As proved by the Roman, the arch was a structure that was relatively easy to build but could support enormous amounts the weight. Like many ideas to the Ottoman, the arch could benefit the empire, and therefore they used it. The roots of the arch are very clear in Ottoman architecture.
Famous Dome Style
The other key style that was used in the Haci Ozbek mosque and much the early construction in the empire is the dome. The origins of the famous dome style are much more disputed topic throughout academia with some accepting the dome’s origin while others are adamant.
The dome appeared as early as 4000 B.C. in the forms of mud brick huts. The architectural style was of little interest to the Greeks, and it was not until the second century Rome that it was constructed in a large scale, precise, masonry form (Dome (architecture),” Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2000). The first notable example of Roman dome destruction the Pantheon in Rome, was erected in 27 B.C., but completed/ reconstructed under Hadrian over a century later in 120 A.D. (Great Ages of Architecture pg 72). Early Christians in Rome exercised the use of the dome in many of their religious structures such as mausoleums and baptisteries, but these structures were generally small. Byzantine architects with the Roman Empire were much more successful with the dome than most of the architects. The Hagia Sophia, completed in 537 A.D., and located in what used to be Christian Constantinople before the Turks sacked the city, is a great example of dome architecture in the Roman Empire. Due to the dome occurrence within the realms of Ottoman territory and especially Anatolia, it makes sense to say that the Ottomans adopted the dome style from the Romans, but other factors come into play.
The dome has long been an architectural style of many interests to Muslims. Several wooden domes are known throughout much of the Middle East, Africa, and parts of sub-Asia (Mark of the Deacon52-60). One of the earliest is the Marneion Temple of Gaza, built in the second century A.D. Domes appeared through out Islamic nations around the same time they were being constructed Byzantines. Though occurring almost simultaneously, dome architecture of the Byzantines was far more advanced than that of the Islamic nations and had much more resemblance to the dome architecture that the Ottoman would eventually practice.
The final theory behind the Ottoman adoption of the dome originates back to the Turco-man tribes that pre-existed the house of Osman before the Turco-man tribes arrived in Anatolia. This position argues that the Ottoman’s initial adoption and interests in the dome structure was derived prom their primitive Islamic past and nomadic life style. In Ancient Middle East and western Asia domes were first used as tomb structures and in small solid mounds made of clay used as living structures. (Dome, 2011 In Encyclopedia Britannica). These structures had to be small, adaptable, and easy to relocate or reconstruct to serve the primitive tribes. Their nomadic lifestyles demanded the ability to live on the move and the dome served as an easy structure to relocate or rebuild so as to provide shelter for these people. Although there is evidence of the dome form throughout ancient Islam, the Ottoman’s predominantly adopted dome architecture from the Byzantines due to their proximity and contact with early Turks. Regardless, the Turks adopted both the dome and the arch.
The Mosque Style
As the Ottoman Empire strengthened, architecture in the empire became far more impressive. As the Romans did nearly two thousand years before, the ottomans filled their territories with roads, bridges, government buildings, fountains, monuments, and most notable to Ottoman architecture is the mosque.
The other source though not given much weight was artistic influence got from contacts that the early Ottomans had with Italy. This has been witnessed in the way several mosques at Bursa or Tur are stylistic parallels in the plan of the external facade and of roofs, gates, and windows to features present in Italian architecture. A distinctive and unique feature of Ottoman architecture is that the architecture borrowed the best from both European and Islamic artistic traditions and therefore, became a part of both.
The pinnacle of Ottoman architecture was attained in the enormous series of külliyes and mosques that continued to dominate the Istanbul skyline: the Fatih külliye between the period of 1463–70s, the Bayezid Mosque which dominated after 1491, also the Selim Mosque of 1522, the Sehzade külliye, which was constructed of 1548, and finally the construction of the Süleyman külliye after 1550. These are chronological undertakings which support the thesis of the essay since they give the origins of the architecture. This is that basis of Ottoman architecture existence and the structures. The Süleyman külliyes and Sehzade were constructed by Sinan, who is the greatest Ottoman architect; his masterpiece is the Selim Mosque at Edirne, Tur., constructed between 1569 and 1575. All of these constructions exhibit complete logic and clarity in both plan and elevation; every portion of the construction has been considered in regard to the whole, and each architectural constituent has adopted a hierarchic function in the entire composition. Any element, which was thought to be unnecessary, has been eliminated. This simplicity of the platform and blueprints in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries has frequently been credited to the fact that many Ottoman architects and Sinan were first trained like armed forces engineers.
During his era as Chief Royal Architect between1539 and 1588 in the period of Golden Age of the Ottoman kingdom, Sinan designed hundreds of structures that assisted in the creation of the renowned town image of Istanbul, especially mosques with ostensibly weightless, well lit centralized domes that have been evaluated with developments in resurgence Italy. His idiosyncratic architectural phrase left its imprint over a huge empire extending from the Danube all the way to the Tigris, and Sinan became the highly famous of all Ottoman architects.
In this plentifully demonstrated, major up coming assessment of Sinan’s composition, Gülru Necipoglu difference standard scrutiny of Sinan as a Turkish Michelangelo operated solely by a voracious urge for artistic experimentation. Her creative analysis displays that Sinan’s rich diversity of mosque designs came from a practice of negotiation between the architect and his influential patrons, both women and men. Defined though they were by territorial hierarchies and social and associated ideas of memory, decorum, and identity, Sinan’s mosques at the same time shaped these conceptions. The Age of Sinan came about because of resourcefulness of primary sources to divulge the chief architect’s monuments as possessors of formerly unrecognized dimensions of meaning. A complex study of the social and cultural history of Ottoman architecture, understanding the oeuvre of a determining figure in the early contemporary eastern Mediterranean universe, it is must reading for students and scholars of art history and other disciplines with a curiosity in the Ottoman Empire. The age of Sinan became the comprehensive survey of renowned constructors’ works under the supervision of the Ottoman sultans and their wealthiest subjects.
While külliyes and mosques are the most distinguishing monuments of Ottoman architecture, significant secular constructions were also built: caravansaries, baths, and especially the enormous palace complex of Topkapi Saray found in Istanbul, in which 300 years of majestic architecture are preserved in its sophisticated halls, pavilions, and fountains. Construction works of the Ottoman architecture have rich origins, and have kept their identity since their origins. Science and technology influences, which have hit all sector of the world, did not affect the architectures. Ottoman science urbanized further owing to the personal attention of Mehmed II and the learning institutions, which he developed after the conquest of Istanbul. Consequently, some brilliant scholars came in place in the sixteenth century and made unique contributions to science in this most clear time frame of Ottoman history of science. Science and scholars are also the enhancing factors that have kept the Ottoman architectures intact; otherwise, there would be none in existence. The main architecture being a converted Muslim from Christianity and having been trained as an army engineer gave him the better chances of mixing the cultures and expertise top bring out complex structures. This is a proof that several cultural practices or existence or knows how has been the real pillar of these constructions.
In 1512, Sinan the chief architect was conscripted into military service and went to Istanbul to unite with the Janissary corps, where he changed his religious belief to Islam from Christianity. He originally learned mathematics and carpentry and had such great talent that he soon became the assistant of foremost architects. Architecture in the early years of the empire was much different from that of the classical age. Ottoman architecture can be described as a massive collection of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern architectural traditions, but during the early years of the empire, the Ottoman’s had little interaction and influence from medieval Europe. Mosques, which served as a house of prayer and center of culture, are a great representation of architecture throughout the life of the empire.
During this period, he was also educated as a cadet, eventually being accepted to the brotherhood of Janissaries after duration six years. After involvement in several battles, he was endorsed as captain of the Royal Guard and then given authority of the Infantry Cadet Corps. He was later relocated to Austria, where he controlled the sixty second Orta of the Rifle Corps. During these occasions, while using his acquaintance of architecture to study the weak areas of enemy fortifications, he was also able to learn construction techniques and European architecture. His education as an army engineer gave Sinan an experiential approach to structural design rather than a theoretical one, making use of the skills garnered from his experience to the great architectural accomplishments of the Middle East and Europe, in conjunction with his own innate talents. He eventually changed established architectural processes in the Ottoman Empire, intensifying and transforming the civilizations by adding improvements and trying to move toward the perfection of his art.
During 1535, he was involved in the Baghdad campaign as a commanding soldier of the Royal Guard. During the operation in the East, he helped in the building of bridges and defenses, such as a bridge found in the Danube. Throughout the Persian campaign, he constructed ships to enable the military and the weaponry to cross Lake Van. In 1537, he went on a voyage to the Italian region of Apulia, the Greek island of Corfu, and finally to Moldavia, giving him additional experience in the European architecture of the period. He also changed churches into mosques. When the Ottoman army conquered Cairo, he was elevated to chief architect of the city. These are the cultural diversities, which Ottoman architectures are based on.
In early 15th century, Çelebi Lütfi Pasha, under whom Sinan had earlier served, became Grand Vizier and chose Sinan as chief designer of the Ottoman capital of Istanbul, where his tasks included to oversee construction and the sustain the flow of supplies all over the entire Ottoman Empire. He was also accountable for the plan and edifice of community works, such as infrastructures, bridges, and waterworks. Over the following years, Sinan altered his office into that of Architect of the Empire, a complicated government section with greater powers even than his overseeing minister did. He became the leader of the whole corps of court architects, training a group of assistants, deputies, and students.
Sinan originally continued the conventional pattern of Ottoman architecture, gradually exploring new possibilities due to the emergence of science related discoveries and different empires requiring different designs. His first effort to construct a significant monument was the Hüsrev Pasha Mosque and its twofold medresse in Aleppo, Syria republic. It was constructed in the winter period of 1536-1537 between two army operations for his commander-in-chief. Its speedy building is demonstrated in the roughness of execution and rudimentary decoration.
His initial major charge as the royal designer in Istanbul was the edifice of a reserved Haseki Hürrem sophisticated for Roxelana, the famous Hürem Sultan, the wife of Sultan Süleyman the superb. Here, Sinan had to pursue the strategies drawn by his predecessors. He kept the traditional arrangement of the accessible space without any advances. However, the construction was already better built and more stylish than the Aleppo mosque.
Early1541, Sinan started the construction of the burial chamber of the Grand Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa, which erects on the seashore of Be%u015Fikta%u015F on the European area of Istanbul, at the place where the admiral’s navy used to gather. Mysteriously enough, the admiral was not graved there, and it has been severely neglected. Consideration of diversity of ethnic groups Sinan, the chief architect, interacted with give clear evidence that culture has played a major role in Ottoman architecture existence.
Mihrimah Sultana, Suleiman’s only daughter who later got married to the Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha, employed Sinan the commission to construct a mosque with a college, a soup kitchen, and Qur’an learning institutions in Üsküdar. This Iskele Mosque or Jetty Mosque displays numerous hallmarks of Sinan’s established style: high-vaulted basement, spacious, slender minarets, and a single-domed covering sided by three semi-domes finishing in three semicircular nooks, and a wide double entrance. The structure was completed in 1548. When Suleiman’s son and heir to the empire %u1E62ehzade Mehmet passed on at the age of 22 years, the sultan instructed Sinan to build a new huge and special mosque with an adjacent complex in his remembrance. This %u015Eehzade Mosque, superior and more striving than his previous ones, is considered Sinan’s first masterwork. Sinan created additional four identical half-domes to the large innermost dome, supporting this superstructure with four gigantic but stylish free-standing, octagonal piers, and four additional piers integrated in each lateral wall. In the edges, above roof height, four turrets provided like stabilizing anchors. This notion of this creation is markedly different from the designs of traditional Ottoman architecture.
Classical Ottoman Architecture
The following are the specific examples displaying religious influences in the Ottoman architecture during the Age of Sinan. Koca Sinan who existed between 1499 and 1588, was one of the greatest Ottoman architect, he served as head architect or the designer of Dar-Usaadet, the residence of Felicity for more than 50 years, 1438-88. He constructed or supervised 316 constructions in Istanbul alone. He significantly influenced the expansion of Ottoman architecture and produced its most renowned masterpieces. He had deep experience from other cultures he interacted with and made him produced masterpieces, which are still being celebrated currently.
The Church of Hagia Sofia also known as Ayasofia constructed around 532-37: The construction that most pretentious the Ottoman architects and clientele as an object of appreciation and probably imitation. Sinan is recorded to have felt relieved only when he finished his dome of the Selimiye Mosque at Edirne, which equaled the thickness of Ayasofia’s dome. Hagia Sofia is recorded as the major influencer of Sinan into innovation processes in his architectural enthusiasm.
The Kulliye from the Arabic, the whole, was used in Ottoman periods to designate the charitable, religious, and social complexes. This helped in the consideration of the architectures that could accommodate these requirements roofed under one construction. Having the advantage of being acquainted with both the religious knowledge Sinan could develop the structures to comply to the requirement with much ease. Kulliyes were constructed by sultans, their high officials and their wives. A great kulliye usually consist of a congregational mosque, one or more madrasas, a soup kitchen also known as imaret by the Arabs, a school for kids, a hospital or health care facility to care for the sick, a bath, fountains, and possibly the burial chamber of the founder and his family. This concept became the guiding factor when Sinan came to the existence as the chief architect also other architects had to borrow this notion.
Mosques, which were constructed by Sinan, have their origins based on the above concepts. Central dome mosques foundation on four anchors with two or more half-domes; this was the Suleymaniye Mosque and Kulliye during 1550-57 periods. It became the biggest Ottoman half-domed mosque, it locates on the top of the sixth hill that overlooks the city and cascades downward in a pyramidical display of its domes, half-domes, buttresses, and counterweights. The mosque forms the interior of a kulliye with a dar al-hadith, an imaret, four madrasas, a tabkhane, a medical school, bath, a mektab, fountain, and the mausoleums of the originator, his wife, and Sinan himself in a corner.
Central dome mosques based on six supports: Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque in the year of 1572: Heavily obliged to the Üç Serefeli mosque located at Edirne, the hexagonal design of the dome’s reinforcement completely covers the center space. The dome is buttressed by six half domes on the hexagon’s pointed sides. Central dome mosques based on eight supports, which are associated with the Selimiye Kulliye of Edirne between 1569 and 1574). The pinnacle of Ottoman architecture was attained in the enormous series of külliyes and mosques that continued to dominate the Istanbul skyline. The Fatih külliye, between the period of 1463–70s, the Bayezid Mosque, which dominated after 1491, also the Selim Mosque of 1522, the Sehzade külliye, which was constructed of 1548, and finally the construction of the Süleyman külliye after 1550 (Necipo%u011Flu, 1995). These are chronological undertakings, which support the thesis of the essay since they give the origins of the architecture. This is that basis of Ottoman architecture existence and the structures. This was another masterpiece of Sinan; it had a radical regular design with the four pillars acting like end-points, and a huge, central dome rising above eight anchors. The kulliye had merely two madrasas at the back the mosque.
Like other architectural works, the development of charitable and royal religious architecture is compared to at least two of the regions that saw the creation of royally Islamic structural design: Ottoman, Mamluk, Safavid Iran, Timurid Central Asia, and Mughal India. The existence of the Ottoman architecture is based on Christianity and Muslim architectural designs. This was made possible due to the Sinan advance architectural knowledge and exposure to various cultural, religious, and different people (Stratton 1972). People’s cultures such as nomadic lifestyles demanded the ability to live on the move and the dome served as an easy structure to relocate or rebuild. Although there is evidence of the dome form throughout ancient Islam, structural designed were made way back before the onset of Ottoman architectural designs.
The final theory behind the Ottoman adoption of the dome originates back to the Turco-man tribes that pre-existed the house of Osman before the Turco-man tribes arrived in Anatolia. The impressive tradition of Ottoman architecture, which was established in the sixteenth century, was adopted from two key sources. The first resource was the sophisticated development of new architectural structures that took place all over Anatolia in the fourteenth and early 15th centuries.