SÜLEYMANİYE MOSQUE

The Süleymaniye is the second largest of the imperial mosque complexes in the

city,after Fatih Camii,but it is by far the most magnificent(Kafadar Necipoğlu Gülru,2005).It

is fitting monument to its founder,Süleyman Magnificent, and a masterwork of the greatest of

Ottoman architects,the incomparable Sinan.The mosque itself,the largest of Sinan’s Works, is

perhaps inferior in perfection of design to his Selimiye at Edirne, but it is incontestably the

most important Ottoman building in İstanbul.( Goodwin, Godfrey 1993)For four and a half

centuries it has attracted the wonder and enthusiasm of all foreign travellers to the city (From

A History to Ottoman Architecture.)

One day Sultan Süleyman saw the Hz.Muhammed in his dream and followed

Hz.Muhammed to the place where the Süleymaniye mosque is today.Hz Muhammed said him

in his dream ‘ niche must be here, pulpit there.’When Sultan Süleyman woke up,he thanked to

God and called the architect Sinan.Without making no explanation,with a great excitement he

took the architect Sinan to the place where he saw in his dream.When he began to talk by

saying ‘ we will make a mosque and a külliye’,the architect Sinan interrupted him and said

‘niche must be here and pulpit there’.Shocked by these words, Sultan Süleyman said ‘ Sinan,

you seem like you have been informed’.Sinan answered ‘ My dear Sultan, I was coming two

step behind you in your blessed dream’. This is the story of how the construction idea of the

mosque emerged.(Gökçek C,2005)

Kanuni Sultan Süleyman

had the Süleymaniye Mosque

built to show the strength and

splendour of his realm. This

honourable task was given to

Sinan,the head architecht. It

took him seven years to

complete the mosque and its

annex. Kanuni was not pleased with such a long time. He didn’t understand why Sinan did not

and would not open it to public. On the other hand people had begun to gossip. The Sultan

lost his patience and went to Suleymaniye one late afternoon.(from greatsinan.com)

When he entered the magnificent building he saw that Sinan was sitting in the middle

of the mosque smoking his water pipe. The Sultan couldn’t believe his eyes. With all his high

tone of voice he asked, ‘What’s all this architect?’ As a matter of fact, Sinan was not really

smoking. He was only blowing up the water in the water pipe by means of its pipe. He was

trying to listen to the acoustic (acoustical sound) of the mosque, as he watched the bubbles in

the water. At the same time he was trying to find out how the Imam’s voice would possibly be

heard all around as he spoke at the altar. To make this possible he had 65 huge earthenware

pickle jars brought from different parts of Anatolia. And he had them put all around the dome

with their openings (mouths) sideways. They were all empty. This way his aim was fulfilled.

The voice could spread all around the corners. Kanuni realized what architect’s aim was and

forgave him.(no name,2004)

During construction of the mosque, because of the technical phase of base preparation,

for a long time, there is nothing to be appeared in public and no one could understand why the

mosque didn’t come into being, people began to set rumours in Iran. The Shah of Iran who

interpreted these rumours about the mosque delay because of the lack of money, he sent a

chest which had lots of jewellery in it to Sultan Süleyman to make him humiliated. After

Suleyman had the present of the Iran Shah, he didn’t refuse the present by acting courteously

but instead he had the jewellery squashed and crushed and then commanded to Sinan to put

the crushed jewellery into the daub which was used in the construction of the tall minaret .So

it is said that when the minaret takes the sun shine from behind, it glitters.(Gökçek C,2005)

Again at the time of construction of the külliye, Vatican worried with the news like ‘

Islamic world is creating a masterpiece’ so they prepared a marble with a hidden cross in it

and sent as a present to Sultan Süleyman. Their aim was to make the marble be used in the

mosque and say after it ‘Sultan Süleyman,’ the caliph of Islam world, prays and sermonizes

on the cross’. But having the secret information,Sultan Süleyman commanded his men to split

the marble down in the middle into two part and put the marbles which had cross on them and

placed the marbles on the front doors’ ground. In this

way, whoever wanted to enter the mosque needed to

walk on them. Then Sultan Süleyman wrote a reply to

the Vatican and said ‘we got your present and placed it

to the right place where it must be’.This stories shows

how the other countries of the world worried about the

magnificence which the Süleymaniye mosque would

have when it finished.(Gökçek C,2005,translated)

Some architects, who were jealous of Sinan,

complained to Kanuni Sultan Suleyman about him and said that they could have done the

same thing if they had been given the same chance! Upon this, Kanuni had a meeting in his

presence. All the architects including Sinan had come. Kanuni took out a handful of marbles

and told them to put the marbles on the top of one another. Of course it was something

impossible to do. Then, the Padishah turned to Sinan and asked him to do it. Sinan took off

his ring. Put it on the floor and then placed the marble and he went on. When he completed

his task , all the other architects protested saying that they could have done the same thing.

Then Kanuni asked why they hadn’t done it before and added, ‘Sinan always does something

first, then you imitate him.’

Another speciality of Sinan is that in his work, he reflects the qualifications of the

person who the work is built for.For example, the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque he built for the

daughter of Sultan Suleyman, reflects the delicate and graceful look of a woman and at the

same time the magnificence of Sultan Suleyman(from greatsinan.com). Sultan Selim was a

poet. The minarets of Selimiye reflect the delicate spirit of a poet. The seperate stairs going up

each gallery, are the product of an architectually super brain. It was made for the first time in

the world.

Sinan had an air corridor built inside the building. Electricity hadn’t yet been invented

at that time. So Suleymaniye was lightened by 275 giant oil lamps. Sinan had a very small

room built above the middle door so that the smoke, that came from the oil lamps, would get

through all corners of the mosque and be collected in that very small room. This way of the

mosque and the people would not be effected by the smoke.

Sinan was a real genius,he had a moistening

system built and he produced ink from the soot that

was collected in the room. The ink was the best

kind at that time. All the beautiful designs,

drawings, writings, decorations were made with

this distilled ink. The air circulation within the

mosque was also exceptional and the space above the entrance was illumunated by 4000

candles. Soot obtained from the candles is one of the raw materials the making of ink used for

calligraphy.(from greatsinan.com)

He also used the ostrich egg to protect the mosque

from the spiders and bugs. It is suprising that but in 500

hundred years of time period, anyone didn’t come across

with even one spider in the mosque.

Süleymaniye mosque shouldn’t be thought only as a

mosque,should be seen as a whole, külliye, life centre, a socio-cultural complex. In this place,

people is set high value and complex was constructed with the aim of supplying the needs of

people in every area. So the Suleymaniye Complex includes a mosque, medrese, hospital,

lunatic asylum, infirmary, tombs, hamam, market and a primary school.( Cansever, T 2004)

The people who have examined his buildings commonly

say that Sinan has taken all the precautions known, to

prevent the destruction of an earthquake. One of these

precautions is the material used in the foundation of the

building. By the help of this mortar earthquake waves are

sucked and so lose strength. The location of the building is

also very interesting. In addition , he built protection walls

using stakes. He waited for six years so that the foundation

of Suleymaniye would set completely in the ground. Sinan

also built a sewage system(drenaj) By means of this system, the foundation would be

protected from water and moisture. In addition to this, he built a kind of air canal to get rid of

the moisture inside the building and thus provide a sort of balance between cold and warm air.

He built evacuation canals because of the changing of weather conditions in winter and in

summer. The hot weather in summer, would heat the air and soil and this would produce

moisture going into the foundation of the building. To prevent this, steam evacuation and

moisture canals were built and were used. Connectedly with the sewage system canals.(from

greatsinan.com)

Some years ago the Suleymaniye Mosque fell into

danger of collapsing. If it couldn’t be prevented the

whole building would fall down within a short time.

All the carrying weight was on its arches. In the

middle of each of these arches was a lacking (or

foundation) stone. And they had become worn out in

the course of time. Nobody knew and there wasn’t

any written document telling how the worn out

stones could be changed. All the qualified engineers

and architects of Turkey were called. Everyone had a

different opinion but no one could solve the problem.

As the discussions were going on, there was a chaos in and outside the mosque.

While those architects and engineers belonging to different institutions were

examining the arches, one of them discovered a hidden hollow just by accident. In the hole

there was a piece of paper with a note written on it. It was written with the old alphabet. It

was examined by many specialists and was proved to be real. It was a letter written by

architect Sinan himself. When it was translated into today’s Turkish, it said, ‘You’ve found

my letter. This shows the foundation stone of the arch is worn out and you don’t know how to

change it..’ Great Sinan explained how it was going to be changed word by word. In the same

place there was a bottle. In it there was another note telling how the old stone could be

changed with the new. It said,’Whoever wishes to change this old stone with the new, will

place a greased rope on both sides of the new stone. While pushing both ends of the rope into

the sides of the old stone on one side, some others will pull out the ends on the other side.

This way you’ll take the old stone out and put the new stone in. They did what they were to

do word by word and this was how Suleymaniye was saved. This letter is still being kept in

the Topkapı Palace.

The Suleymaniye mosque

was truly a masterpiece during the

time it was built in the 1550. Today,

it still never fails to captivate its

audience through the complexity of

its design and the intellectual

analysis of its significance.

(Goodwin, Godfrey 1993) Süleymaniye mosque is one of the most visited places in

İstanbul.The mosque is definitely symbolic in the city of Istanbul, sitting at top the highest

hill, in that it represents central power and strength of the Turkish Empire .

For the ones who want to see the Suleymaniye mosque, it dominates the city's Third

Hill, just north of Istanbul University, overlooking the Golden Horn It's an easy walk of less

than 10 minutes around the university from Beyazıt Square and the Grand Bazaar to the

Süleymaniye.(Anonymous 2008)

To get the full effect of the architect's design, you should walk to the northwest side of

the mosque onto Şifahane Sokak and enter the courtyard by this main entrance. The mosque is

open every day, for free. (Anonymous 2008)

As i said before the mosque

complex (külliye) includes a hamam,

imaret (soup kitchen, now a fine

restaurant serving Ottoman cuisine),

theological colleges (medrese), a

hospital (darüşşifa) and medical

school, a primary school, and a

caravanserai/hostel for travellers. Some of these, such as the hamam and imaret, are still open

to the public. You'll also want to visit the beautiful, elaborate tombs of Süleyman and his

sultana Roxelana (Hürrem Sultan) in the garden behind the mosque. The tomb of Architect

Sinan is outside the complex at the intersection of Mimar Sinan Caddesi, Fetva Yokuşu and

Şifahane Sokak(Anonymous,2008)

BUKET KILIÇOĞLU

3231080046

REFERENCES

1. Gökçek,C (Haziran 2005),Muhteşem Süleymaniye Cami ve Külliyesi, from

http://training.akademiklima.com/suleymaniye.pdf

2. (2009). SULEYMANIYE (SÜLEYMANİYE) MOSQUE .from

http://english.istanbul.gov.tr/Default.aspx?pid=312.

3. Kafadar Necipoğlu,G.(3 January 2005), Religious Inscriptions on the Great

Mosques,Harvard

4. Great Sinan,Architech Great Sinan,2008,İstanbul Design Center from

http://www.greatsinan.com/edu.asp

5. Architectural Form: Suleymaniye Mosque,(04 Oct 2012) from

http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=162984

6. Cansever, T. The Architecture of Mimar Sinan." Architectural Design. V. 74. n. 6.

Nov/Dec 2004.

7. Goodwin, Godfrey. Sinan: Ottoman Architecture and Its Values Today. Redwood

Press Limited. Great Britain, 1993.

8. Ege Yayinlari,. Sinan: An Interpretation. Istanbul, Turkey, 1997

9. Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul,from

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Istanbul/Sights/Beyazit/Suleymaniye.html

10. Süleymaniye Camii,from

http://www.gbg.bonet.se/osmanli/kultur/eserler/suleymaniye.htm

11. Süleymaniye camii ve şifreleri from http://www.mailce.com/suleymaniye-camisi-ve-

sifreleri.html