Hagia Sophia and Sinans Mosques:

Structure and Decoration in Sleymaniye Mosque

and Selimiye Mosque
Mio TAKIKAWA

Introduction
This essay analyzes the characteristics of some great Ottoman mosques (Cami)1,
highlighting their originality. The Ottoman mosque architecture changed its style after the
conquest of Constantinople in 1453, when the Ottoman met Byzantine architecture and
adopted it in their own way. Many of the Western European scholars from the nineteenth to
twentieth century focused on the similarities between the Ottoman and Byzantine architecture
and the originality of these mosques including those designed by Mimar Sinan (14891588), the
chief architect of the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century. They particularly emphasized the
method of constructing the half domes of Hagia Sophia (532537, Istanbul) (Fig.1), which, they
claim, was imitated in the Ottoman mosques.2 Arguing against this view, Turkish and Eastern
European researchers emphasized the Ottoman architectures originality by denying or neglecting
the influence of Hagia Sophia and Byzantine architecture.3 Regarding these opposing views,
Necipolu argues that the former reflects the Orientalist view prevailing in the West, while the
latter derives from Turkish nationalism. She adds that both views are biased and insufficient for
the study of Sinans style or Ottoman architecture.4 Indeed, such biased views miss the fact that
the Ottoman Empire was multi-religious, multilingual, and multicultural, made up of various
races inhabiting the land around Istanbul.
Based on this background, this essay aims to clarify the originality of Ottoman mosque
architecture without ignoring the important influence from the Byzantine. This goal will be
achieved by the analysis of spatiality in three important buildings: Sleymaniye Cami (155056,
Istanbul), Selimiye Cami (15691574, Edirne), and Hagia Sophia that has been described as the
prototype of the great Ottoman mosques. By comparing the two mosques created by Sinan with
the important Byzantine architectural work, and also by contrasting the two mosques, I will
show the differences in spatiality between the three.

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1. The Background of the Reception of Hagia Sophia and the Characteristics

of the Ottoman Empire
In Hagia Sophia, Anthemius and Isidoros combined the basilica style with the central style.
With this innovation, the building became a great monument that has a massive elliptical inner
space combining a main dome with two half domes, whose diameters are almost the same as that
of the main dome, that is almost 31 m (Fig.2).
About a thousand years after the construction of Hagia Sophia, the Ottoman Empire
built some mosques using the some domical form. This fact may be accounted for by the
Turkish flexibility as well as Muslim tolerance regarding foreign architectural culture, of which
we can find some examples in the early stage of Islamic culture. The Turks had migrated from
the Mongolian Plateau to Anatolia between the ninth and the eleventh centuries. In this
process, they diversified their culture by mixing with the original inhabitants of each area. The
architectural tradition of Islam has reflected this by showing a tolerant attitude for different
cultures. This might have been related to their flexibility regarding the form of the place of
worship. Erzen points out, Islamic prayer does not require a specific edifice, as prayer can be
observed anywhere as long as one faces Mecca. Further the Prophet had warned against the
futile show of riches and materiality in this world.5 Indeed in the Quran there is no description
that defines the form. Hence, in many examples of Islamic architecture, including the Dome of
the Rock in Jerusalem and Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Christian and other architectural
cultures were adopted.
In the Ottoman period, cultural synthesis progressed further by such imperial ruling
systems as Devirme and Timar. The migration policy of Mehmet the Second, adopted after the
conquest of Constantinople also advanced the coexistence of diverse races, languages, religions,
and cultures within the Ottoman Empire.6 Against this background, Ottoman architecture
adopted the style of Hagia Sophia. First of all, the Ottoman architectural culture, composed
of ethnic Turkish culture and Islamic architectural culture, had a taste for domical buildings.
Turks, whose ancestors were nomad Oghuz, believed that the round tent used in their nomadic
life was a symbol of the heaven.7 In addition to this traditional belief, we can easily suppose that
descriptions of the heaven as a canopy8 were associated with the domical structure. Therefore,
Ottoman architecture, in which the taste for domes can be traced back to the two roots, united a
square or rectangular base with a dome. Regarding this style, Kuban states:
The conceptual source of the design of the great Ottoman mosques is a synthesis of the
Islamic dome-on-squinch, the post-Roman idea of a dome space, and associated with
an unchangeable rectangularity of plan, typical of the Islamic mosque tradition. Its
symbolism perhaps has as double meaningheaven-dome, and sultan-domeidentifying
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Hagia Sophia and Sinans Mosques: Structure and Decoration in Sleymaniye Mosque and Selimiye Mosque

both the religious (here Islamic, but essentially pagan) and political (here Islamic, but
originally nomadic) source.9
Thus, with its taste for domical structure, the great Ottoman mosque architecture, which
consisted of diverse elements, was influenced by Hagia Sophia, whose inner space was greatly
extended by the use of half domes. The competitive attitude that the Islamic architecture
possessed was inspired here.10 Yet, the asymmetry and crooked structure in Hagia Sophia greatly
perplexed Ottoman architects.11 It took about a century for them to achieve the completion
of a half dome building, following the plan of Hagia Sophia. Having begun with Eski Fatih
Cami(14631470, Istanbul), the Ottoman architecture took a series of approaches to the half
dome structure, finally entering into a new phase when Sinan built Sleymaniye Cami.12 In this
mosque, Sinan came up with a creative solution to adopt the half dome style of Hagia Sophia.

2. Hagia Sophia and Sleymaniye Mosque

Sleymaniye Cami was built from 1550 to 1556, on the hill that overlooks the Bay of
Golden Horn, with one of its sides parallel to the coastline. This Friday mosque carried the
political intention of symbolizing the Sultans authority (Fig.3). Its worship space is as large as
58.5 57.5 meters, with four piers holding a main dome with a diameter of 26.5 meters and a
height of 53 meters.13According to the wish of Sultan Sleyman I, the plan of Hagia Sophia was
used to construct the mosque (Fig.4).14 Sinan stated the following about this mosque:
To the engineers of the age and overseers of auspicious monuments it is manifest and
apparent that although [formerly] buildings constructed in the style of Hagia Sophia did
not possess elegance, this servant perfected the noble Friday mosque of ehzade Sultan
Mehmedmay God illumine his tombwhich was the model for the noble building
complex [and mosque] of His Majesty Sultan Sleyman Khanmay he rest in peace.
Subsequently, in this lofty edifice [i.e., the Sleymaniye complex] various beautiful works
art were created, each of which took form with elegance.15
Sinan stated here that ehzade Cami (154348, Istanbul) was a sophisticated form of
Hagia Sophia which was further refined in Sleymaniye Cami.16 Thus, he clearly mentioned that
Hagia Sophia influenced ehzade Cami and Sleymaniye Cami. Yet, it was not an imitation but
rather a competition. In Sleymaniye Cami, he overcame the structural defect in Hagia Sophia
and found a solution to create an original idiom for a great Ottoman mosque. In this mosque,
Sinan adopted the plan of a central dome with two half domes, which was almost the same as
that of Hagia Sophia. Therefore, of course, Sleymaniye and Hagia Sophia were structurally
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similar, with the most remarkable similarity being that both achieved the massive elliptical inner
space. The two half domes enabled the nave space to extend and lead to the huge inner space.
However, significant differences also exist between the two structures, which derive from their
religious backgrounds.
According to Schulz, Europes Christian churches separate space into segments.17 This
creates a directional movement from the entrance to the apse. Hagia Sophia, like Sleymaniye
Cami, has a massive inner space, on the one hand (Fig.5). On the other hand, however, its two
half domes create a kind of longitudinal axis and lead to a kind of directionality. Further, the
tympanums in the upper part and the colonnades in the bottom combine to partition the space
and contribute to directionality (Fig.6).
In the space of a mosque, however, directionality is far less important. Only the direction of
Mecca, to which Muslims pray, needs to be shown.18 The necessary spatial characteristic in the
space is the massiveness, which visually creates the effect of concentration and gathering.19 Like
Hagia Sophia, Sleymaniye Cami has two tympanums just below the main dome. However,
Sleymaniyes main arches more effectively support the dome, and thus its load is smoothly
transferred to the four piers.20 This lightens the tympanums role of a supporting system allowing
them to contribute to the outward expansion of the upper part (Fig.7). Further, in Hagia Sophia,
the directional movement appears in the interior through the use of colonnades between the
piers and galleries upstairs, while Sleymaniye Cami uses columns and galleries only restrainedly
and thus a sense of unity between the nave and aisles is realized here.21 In this, we can clearly see
Sinans aim of creating a space that expands in all directions (Fig.8).22
In addition, the openings contribute to a visual effect in the internal space of Sinans
mosques, with light playing a vital role.23 The nave space and aisles in Hagia Sophia are screened
by columns, and therefore the light entering from the openings in the wall of the aisles barely
exerts its influence on the nave. Most of the light that reaches the inner space directly comes
from the upper openings of the drum, half domes, tympanums, exedras, and wall of galleries,
and combines to create a divine space isolated from the outer world24. The wall of the apse with
its stained glass also creates a similar effect.
By contrast, in Sleymaniye Cami, openings are evenly distributed not only in the upper
part of the drum, half domes, tympanums, and exedras but also on the walls at eye-level.
Nothing screens the light entering from the openings, and so a uniform brightness is realized
in the inner space. This enhances the unity of the internal space; a transparency appears in the
mosques whole space, and when we enter the inner space, we feel the centrifugal, outward
expansion, which may be called an expanding effect. Yet, this effect of centrifugal expansion
is not the only effect created by the inner space. Contradictory as it may sound, the space also
creates a centripetal, attracting effect that leads the attention toward the top. For instance, the
main domes arches are gently pointed and smoothly transfer the perpendicular lines of the four
piers from the bottom to upper areas. Furthermore, although the mosque contains some round
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openings, most of its openings are designed in a vertical shape and arranged on the wall to
form vertical lines moving from the lower part to the top. This arrangement also guides the eyes
upward.
Moreover, this eye-catching, centripetal effect is created not only by the structural devices
but also by the decorations inside.
As Necipolu points out, the investigation into the decorations has generally been neglected
in the studies of Ottoman architecture.25 Most Turkish scholars have focused on the structural
originality of Sinans architectural designs in order to oppose the Western view that the Islamic
architectures structure has not developed through the history. However, the decorations are
an important element in Sleymaniye Cami contributing to the spatiality of the mosque
architecture.26 By analyzing the decorations along with the structure, we can more appropriately
approach the essential characteristics of the configuration of the mosques spatiality.
One example is muqarnas, which is adorned on various parts of the inner space, creating
a delicate flickering of light, and thus obscuring the form of the structure and enhancing
the massiveness of the space. In addtition, radial windows, together with the inscriptions on
the main dome, the half domes, and the exedras connote the direction to the center of the
main dome. Here too, the decorations, in accordance with the structure, create the coexisting
centrifugal and centripetal visual effects within the worship space. Therefore, when people enter
the mosque, their eyes are drawn upward, which enhances the sense of centripetal attraction. At
the same time, however, with the permeability of the many openings, they also experience the
kind of radial, centrifugal movement that directs part of their attention toward the outer space.
Thus, though Sleymaniye was his direct answer to the challenge of Justinians masterpiece
itself, Sinan also achieved in it the original spatial idioms of great Ottoman mosques.27 But a
more complete form of this originality was embodied in Selimiye Cami.

3. Selimiye Cami as the Achievement of the Original Idiom of Ottoman

Architecture
Selimiye Cami, in whose construction Sinan was engaged around his eighties, was built at
Edirne from 1567 to 1574, and is the best of his masterpieces (Fig.9). The Friday mosques main
dome is 45 meters above the ground and covers the worship space of about 40 45 meters.
Its plan is different from that of Sleymaniye Cami and therefore, of Hagia Sophia (Fig.10).
In general, plans greatly affect the spatiality of architecture, and hence, different plans would
be expected to result in different spatiality.28 However, the impressions of the inner spaces of
Sleymaniye Cami and Selimiye Cami are similar in their visual spatial effects (Fig.11).
In Selimiye Cami, eight piers are erected, which are twice as many as those in Sleymaniye
Cami. Selimiyes piers, supporting the huge main dome, are united with the walls, and the
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boundary between the piers and the walls is ambiguous. In Sleymaniye, by contrast, the piers
are independent of the walls, sustaining their form as columns. Additionally, in Selimiye, the
upper parts of the piers are combined with the walls and emphasize the unity of the internal
space. The eight piers form an octagonal shape in the square ground floor, creating the effect of
an uninterrupted upward transition, from the square on the ground to the octagonal lower level
and finally to the round domed roofhence, the emphasized unity of the inner space.
The smooth form of the structure itself contributes to the aesthetic effect, enhancing the
massiveness of the space. Perpendicular lines run on the piers, with a pointed arch between each
pier, guiding the eyes upward to the central. The openings on the drum and the tympanums
are taller in Selimiye than Sleymaniye (Fig.12, 13) and act as an important structural element
closely related to the structural strength of the architecture. Shapes of the innumerable windows
are vertical, creating an effect similar to that created by the piers and arches. These repetitions of
the effects create a still stronger orientation to the topto the center of the dome.
Incidentally, the pointed arch forms do not only draw attention toward the center of the
main dome but also, as in Sleymaniye Cami, produce a centrifugal expansion from the main
dome. As is obvious from the plan, the eight arches create the effect of visually expanding the
dome space outward. Here, a series of decorative structures emphatically contributes to the
centripetal and centrifugal impression.
Moreover, the internal decorations of Selimiye Cami are more sophisticated than those
of Sleymaniye, enhancing the visual effects, and underlining the expanding and gathering
effect. The muqarnas in Selimiye also helps achieve the impression of smooth surfaces of the
space. Compared with Sleymaniye Cami or Sinans other sultanic mosques, Selimiye Cami
uses muqarnas more widely. Geometrically arranged muqarnas decorations are used on the
pendeitives between the main dome and the arches, as well as from the bottom of the exedras
to the lower arches. Further, in such various parts as the capitals and the kibla wall muqarnas is
liberally used as decoration. In particular, the muqarnas decorations on the pier capitals promote
the smooth transition from the bottom to the upper parts by obscuring the borders between the
piers and the arches.
The openings in Selimiye are also important in terms of the light that they allow to enter.
Selimiyes openings total 384, which is far more than the number in Sleymaniye. They are
equally distributed from the bottom to the upper part, from the eye level to the drum, which is
the base part of the dome. Therefore, lights in the inner space are homogeneous and even. This
creates transparency in the whole building, and people experience an expansion from the internal
space to the external.
Here, I will give another example. In Selimiye Cami, there is a contrivance in the
arrangement of the round inscriptions. In many mosques, including Sleymaniye Cami, round
inscriptions are used to fill the blanks of the pendentives (Fig.14). Yet, because a strong contrast
is provided to highlight the ornamental writing, the inscriptions catch the viewers eyes. Hence,
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Hagia Sophia and Sinans Mosques: Structure and Decoration in Sleymaniye Mosque and Selimiye Mosque

if they are used on each pendentive, the eyes are caught by them and do not shift smoothly from
the lower level to the center of the main dome. Therefore, in Selimiye Cami, no inscriptions are
used on the pendentives, and this yields a smooth shift of the eyes upward toward the center of
the main dome. The slender windows of the drum also point to their inscriptions which stress
the centripetal attraction. Thus, decorations density increases as the eye moves upward. These
eye-catching, abundant decorations then contribute to the centripetal, floating visual effect
(Fig.15).
Referring to Selimiye, Sinan declares, art attains in it [Selimiye Cami] complete
realization.29 In a sense, it was the final and complete project of challenging Hagia Sophia, a
competition about the scale of the main dome. At the same time, however, it was a symbol of
the great Ottoman mosque architecture, whose form the Ottoman architects had explored since
their building of Eski Fatih Cami. The structure and decoration combine to create the strong
Ottoman idiomatic effect, that is, the centripetal and centrifugal, expanding and gathering effect.
This effect is attained primarily because the structure and decoration are combined to achieve a
common and consistent goal: they enhance each other.
When Sinan designed a mosque, he did not utilize some established standards even on
parts such as the openings and piers.30 He seems to have planned both the whole and the
detailed design of each mosque. Sinans mosques are created not by bringing together existing
standardized elements but by devising each element in harmony with purpose and spatiality
specific to each mosque. In his mosques, all the structural and decorative elements are created
to satisfy the aim of the individual mosque and to organize a visual spatial effect in the interior
space.

Conclusion
The style and elements of Hagia Sophia inspired the great Ottoman mosque architecture.
This applies to Selimiye Cami, which returned to the traditional form of Ottoman architecture,
as well as to Sleymaniye Cami, which intentionally incorporated the plan of Hagia Sophia.
However, this was not an imitation but a cultural synthesis whose basis had been cultivated
through the Turkish experience of migration from Central Asia to Anatolia.
Taking elements from foreign cultures and religions and synthesizing them into something
original is a peculiar Turkish characteristic, and we can recognize its accomplishment in great
Ottoman mosques. In short, the originality of the great Ottoman mosques does not emerge by
eliminating all the foreign influences, nor can it merely be reduced to the Byzantine style. It is
a synthesis that emerges by the process of integration of foreign culture by Turks of Byzantine
culture. And this is the symbol of the Ottoman Empire, a multiracial, multilingual, and
multicultural empire which ruled the vast land of Rum.
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Notes
1 Cami refers to the mosque used for the important Islamic service held every Friday. In English it is usually
translated as Friday mosque or great mosque.
2 See, for example, Sir Banister Fletcher, A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method, London: B.T.
Batsford, 1924.
3 See, for example, Suut Kemal Yetkin, Larchitecture turque en turquie, Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose, 1962.
4 Glru Necipolu, Creation of a National Genius: Sinan and the Historiography of Classical Ottoman
Architecture, Muqarnas, vol.24, Brill, 2006, pp.141184.
5 Jare Nejdet Erzen, Reading Mosques: Meaning and Architecture in Islam Aesthetics, volume 69, number 1,
winter 2011, p.126.
6 Hayashi Kayoko, Osuman-Teikoku-Gohyakunen-no-Heiwa (The Peaceful 500 years of the Ottoman Empire),
Tokyo: Kodansha, 2008, pp.7092.
7 Oda Juten, Toruko-Minzoku-to-Isuramu-ni- Kansuru- Kyoudou-Kenkyu-Houkokusho (Report of joint research
on Turk and Islam), Tokyo-Gaikokugo-University, 1974, pp.1433.
8 It is God who has given you the earth for a dwelling place and the heavens for a canopy.
Quran, translated by M.A.S.Abdel Hallem, Oxford, 2010 (2004), p.305, SuraXXXX, 64.
9 Doan Kuban, The Style of Sinans Domed Structures, Muqarnas, vol.4, Brill, 1987. p.74.
10 Glru Necipolu, Challenging the Past: Sinan and the Competitive Discourse of Early Modern Islamic
Architecture, Muqarnas, vol.10, Brill, 1993, pp.169180.
In this thesis, Necipolu explores the competitive attitude that Islamic architecture possesses inherently.
11 Ottoman architects must have been very impressed by the roof of Hagia Sophia making use of semidomes
to cover the large rectangular interior space. Nevertheless, they must have been very curious and critical so far
[as] its structural system is concerned. The reason for their rather skeptical approach was most probably the
antisymmetry present in the substructure carrying the central dome. In the Turkish structural tradition the
dome had always been supported axisymmetrically or at least uniformly by means of four arches of the same
rigidity in two perpendicular directions. In addition, also the columns carrying the arches had to have the
same rigidity in these directions. As explained in Chapter 2, in the substructure of the dome of Hagia Sophia
these rules of symmetry do not exist.
The Ottoman architects tried to adopt the semidome into their domed buildings with highest caution and
only gradually.
Ihsan Mungan, Hagia Sophia and Mimar Sinan: How to Strengthen the Roof Proceeding of the IASS
International, Symposium on Shell and Spacial Structures, 2005 PT.12 p.924.
12 Eski Fatih Cami was the first to approach half dome construction after the conquest of Constantinople, and
its approach was followed in Beyazit Cami (15011506, Istanbul) and ehzade Cami.
13 Pier is an architectural term used to describe a major supporting column in a building.
14 Grlu Necipolu, The Sleymaniye Complex in Istanbul: An Interpretation Muqarnas, vol.3, Brill, 1985,
pp.92117.
15 Howard Crane, Esra Akn, and Glru Necipolu, Sinans Autobiographies: Five Sixteenth-Century Texts,
Supplement to Muqarnas, Brill, Leiden: Boston, 2006,
[Choice Gift of the Architects],
[13b], p.74.
16 ehzade Cami was built for a son of sultan Sleyman I. It was also the first great mosque that Sinan designed.
17 Christian NorbergSchulz, Jitsuzon Kukan Kenchiku, (Existence, Space and Architecture), translated by Kato
Kunio, Tokyo: KajimaShuppankai, 1973.
18 On this, Gebhard points out as follows:
Ones attention is drawn to the mihrab and the minber only when the building is being used for prayer,
and then it is not the building itself which suggests a directional movement, but individual involved in the
religious ceremony.
David Gebhard, The Problem of Space in the Ottoman Mosque, The Art Bulletin, 1963, p.272.

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Also, Kuban states:

Functionally, because of the rows of worshipers, mosques tend to be used perpendicularly to the direction
of the qibla. But the direction of the Kaba is a symbolic orientation and has nothing to do with the
directioning of space.
Doan Kuban, 1987, op.cit., p.78.
19 Incidentally, [] in Arabic, the word for beauty has the same root with the words wholeness or
community.
Erzen, op.cit., 2011, p.126.
20 In addition, while the exedras of Hagia Sophia are an ornamental feature, Sleymaniyes exedras contribute to
the structure. In this regard, Yerasimos says:
In Hagia Sophia exedras are used to give the plan its particular form. Sinan used them as a vital element
in the dome construction, to help absorb and distribute the weight of the central dome.
Stphane Yerasimos, Constantinople: Istanbuls Historical Heritage, H.F. Ullmann, 2007, p.257.
21 Regarding this point, Kuban states:
When the main supporting piers are free standing, an ambulatory space can be expected, but the idea
of an ambulatory space expressed in plan and elevation apparently did not find a sympathetic response
either from Sinan himself or from other Turkish architects. Their ground floors constituted a functional and
visual whole. That is why screening the center form the aisles, as was done in Hagia Sophia for example,
never appears in Sinans building; it is not even found in the Sleymaniye. His idea of central space was not
the theoretical one represented by geometrically centralized plans such as one finds in Roman ambulatory
buildings or Christian cruciform structures. Even in mausolea where an ambulatory would have been
appropriate, he did not provide one. The ground floors were unarticulated and homogeneous.
Kuban, 1987, ibid., pp.77, 78.
22 The effect of connecting the inner space to the outer space and thus expanding the space outward is one of
the characteristics common to Ottoman mosques.
On this, Yerasimos points out as follows:
In Byzantine architecture, the exedras connected the roof construction to the floor, thus symbolically
connecting Heaven and Earth. In Ottoman architecture, the unified interior space symbolized the community
of the faithful and was therefore designed to be as open as possible.
Yerasimos, op.cit. 2007, p.257.
23 Regarding the light in Sinans mosques, Kuban comments:
Sinan increased the density of light in mosque interiors to reveal all the boundaries, and make the viewer
comprehend all the articulations of the interior space. His interiors represent optimal solution for pure
visibility, a treatment one looks for in vain in Hagia Sophia.
Kuban, 1987, ibid., pp.79, 80.
24 Charles A. Martin argues that the abundance of light in Ottoman mosques is an element which hinders the
religious spirit necessary for a place of worship.
Charles A. Martin, Hagia Sophia and the Great Imperial Mosques, Art Bulletin, 12, 1930, pp.321344.
In opposition to this, Kuban points out, A mosque is not [] intended for mystical experience.
Kuban, 1978, p.79.
25 Glru Necipolu, 2006, op.cit., pp.141184.
26 Structure in this essay refers to the material of architecture without which its very existence is impossible. On
the other hand, decoration is the total ornamentation attached to the structure, which includes, for instance,
the design of the windows.
27 Grlu Necipolu, 1993, op.cit., p.173.
28 See, for example, Doan Kuban, Ottoman Architecture, translated by Adair Mill, Antique Collectors Club,
Suffolk, 2010., and Grlu Necipolu, The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire, Reaktion
Books, London, 2005.

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These books classify mosques according to their plan, or structural style. In Kuban, Sleymaniye Cami is
classified along with Hagia Sophia, Bayezid Cami (15011506, Istanbul), and Kl Ali Paa Cami (1578
1580/81, Istanbul) on the basis of the roofing scheme of one main dome and two half domes. Necipolu also
adopts planbased explanations and classifies Sleymaniye as a square baldachin system along with ehzade
Cami (15431548, Istanbul), Mihrimah Cami (1543/441548, skdar), and Mihrimah Cami (1563
1570, Edirnekap).
29 In his autobiography, Sinan says:
In sum, art attains in it complete realization. In truth, beneath that unsupported dome [of heaven]
Howard Crane, Esra Akn, and Glru Necipolu, Sinans Autobiographies: Five Sixteenth-Century Texts,
Supplement to Muqarnas, Brill, Leiden: Boston, 2006, p.131.
30 He [Sinan] did not have a taste for the modular use of column orders. Having rejected this kind of
convenient regularizing element, he had to develop a dynamic arrangement for the faades and achieve
plasticity, not by the shape of the individual elements, but by the totality of the building volume.
Doan Kuban, 1987, op.cit., p.79.

Photographs and Plans

All photographs are by the author, with the exception of the following: 1, 5, Doan Kuban, Ottoman
Architecture, translated by Adair Mill, Antique Collectors Club, Suffolk, 2010, pp.173, 285.; 2, Henri
Stierlin, Architecture de lIslam, (Isuramu-no-Kenchiku-Bunka), translated by Takeo Kamiya, Office du Livre,
Fribourg, 1979, p.219.; 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, Grlu Necipolu, The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in
the Ottoman Empire, Reaktion Books, London, 2005, pp.17, 19, 208, 214, 248.; 13, Stphane Yerasimos,
Constantinople: Istanbuls Historical Heritage, H.F. Ullmann, 2007, p.270.

The essay is the revised version of a presentation given at The Second Seijo International Colloquium of Art
Studies, on November 4, 2010.

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Fig.1. Hagia Sophia, 532537, Istanbul

Fig.2. Hagia Sophia, plan and elevation

Fig.3. Sleymaniye Cami, 155056, Istanbul

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Fig.4. Sleymaniye Cami, plan and elevation

Fig.5. Sleymaniye Cami, interior

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Hagia Sophia and Sinans Mosques: Structure and Decoration in Sleymaniye Mosque and Selimiye Mosque

Fig.7. Sleymaniye Cami,

tympanum and arch

from ground floor

Fig.6. Hagia Sophia, interior

Fig.8. Sleymaniye Cami interior toward the east

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Fig.9. Selimiye Cami, 15691574, Edirne

Fig.10. Selimiye Cami, plan

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Hagia Sophia and Sinans Mosques: Structure and Decoration in Sleymaniye Mosque and Selimiye Mosque

Fig.11. Selimiye Cami, interior

Fig.12. Sleymaniye Cami, openings

Fig.13. Selimiye Cami, openings

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Fig.14. Sleymaniye Cami, the inscription of the

pendentive

Fig.15. Selimiye Cami, interior

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19 20

16

20

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