Sinan

Sinan (1489–1578 or 1588). Prolific and brilliant master-architect of the Ottoman Empire, holding responsibilities for an enormous range of public works. One of his greatest buildings was the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul (1550–7) which shows how much he had absorbed of Byzantine forms and construction, especially those of the Church of Hagia Sophia, but Sinan improved and rationalized the system of buttressing for the central dome, and clarified the subsidiary elements. However, the huge complex at Selimiye, Edirne, Turkey (1569–74), in which domed structures and rigorous geometry are thoroughly exploited, is even more successful as a solution to the problem of providing a large domed centralized volume, for the secondary volumes are more closely related to the large domed space, with a logic and clarity carried to their ultimate conclusions. Sinan is credited with around 460 buildings, including mosques, hospitals, schools, public buildings, baths, palaces, bridges, tombs, and grand houses. Among his finest tombs are the mausoleum of Selim II (1577) and Süleyman I (the latter an octagonal domed structure, exquisitely decorated with tiles, in the Süleymaniye complex). His work was an extraordinary felicitous synthesis of styles in which Byzantine and Turkish themes merged, and demonstrates his mastery of complicated planning problems, notably in the larger developments.

Bibliography

E. Egli (1976);
H. Egli (1997);
Freely & and Burelli (1992);
G. Goodwin (1971, 1992);
Gurlitt (1907–12);
Kuran (1987);
Placzek (ed.) (1982);
A. Stratton (1972);
Jane Turner (1996);
Vogt-Göknil (1993)

Sinan , Muslim architect, 1489?-1578?. He is regarded as the greatest of Islamic builders, his achievement lying in his solutions to spatial problems in cupola-topped structures. He was active during the reigns of Selim I, Sulayman I, and Selim II, and in 1539 he was named court architect. His masterpieces are the mosques of Şehzâde and Sulayman I, both at Constantinople (now Istanbul), and the mosque of Selim II at Adrianople. His autobiography lists more than 300 buildings of his design.

Bibliography: See study by A. Stratton (1972).

hammam. Islamic bath complex, usually containing changing-rooms, latrines, and a steam-room heated by the hypocaust method. A good example was the Khirbat al-Mafjar, Jordan (late C8). One of the finest public baths in Istanbul is the Hasseki Hurrem (1556), attributed to Sinan, with its four domes aligned on one single axis. So-called ‘Turkish Baths’, complete with lavish decorations in the Islamic style, tiled, marbled, and mosaiced, became popular throughout Europe and America in the second half of C19.

Bibliography

B&B (1994);
Hillenbrand (1994)