Classical Ottoman Architecture (Sinan)
An answer to Hagia Sophia: a central dome on cascading half-domes and pencil-thin minarets
How to recognise it
- Huge central dome on half-domes
- Cascade of domes building to the centre
- Slender faceted minarets with balconies
- Arcaded courtyard with ablution fountain
- Iznik tiles with tulips and carnations
Why it emerged
Having taken Constantinople, the Ottomans wanted to surpass Hagia Sophia and display imperial power at its height under Suleiman. Chief architect Sinan, who ran the state building corps for half a century, made the mosque complex with madrasas, hospital and baths a template for the whole empire.
Examples
Şehzade Mosque1543–1548 · Mimar SinanSinan's first major mosque: a central dome on four half-domes.jpg?width=640 "Hunanuk · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons")
Süleymaniye Mosque1550–1557 · Mimar SinanSuleiman's complex with madrasas, hospital and soup kitchen, crowning Istanbul's skylineSelimiye Mosque1568–1575 · Mimar SinanSinan's masterpiece: a dome on eight piers rivalling Hagia Sophia's in diameter
Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque)1609–1616 · Sedefkâr Mehmed AghaSix minarets and over 20,000 Iznik tiles facing Hagia SophiaMore in this style
- 1557–1566 Stari Most — Mimar Hayruddin
How it spread
- 1501 Istanbul
- 1530 Sarajevo
- 1554 Damascus
- 1557 Mostar
- 1568 Edirne
- 1571 Višegrad
Meanwhile elsewhere
- Ife and Benin bronzes Africa
- Gothic Europe
- Persian miniature Middle East
- Aztec Art Americas
- Ming and Qing Porcelain Asia
- Russian Icon Painting: Theophanes, Rublev, Dionisius Eastern Europe & Russia
- Italian Renaissance Europe
- Northern Renaissance Europe
- Inca Architecture Americas
- Mannerism Europe
- Mughal Art Asia
- Tented Churches Eastern Europe & Russia
- Baroque Europe
- Dutch Golden Age Painting Europe
- Latin American Baroque Americas
- Ukiyo-e Asia
- Naryshkin Baroque Eastern Europe & Russia