ONE-YEAR EVENTS FOR OTTOMAN ARCHITECT GREAT SINAN START IN TURKEY

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
10.06.2009 12:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ One-year events for Ottoman architect Great Sinan
get start in Turkey.

The cultural activities to promote the most well known Turkish
Architect Great Sinan got start in Turkey’s presidential palace on
Tuesday. The cultural activities are organized by Turkish Ministry
of Culture and Tourism under the auspices of Turkish President. The
activities, commemorating Architecture Sinan, will continue in
2009-2010 all around world: in London, Jerusalem, Paris and Cairo.

Sinan was born in 1489 in Anatolia. In 1512, he was conscripted into
Ottoman service via the Devshirme system. Since he was over twenty-one
years old, he was not admitted to the Enderun College in the Topkapý
Palace but was sent instead to an auxiliary school. Some records claim
that he might have served the Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha as a novice
of the Ibrahim Pasha School.

During his life which lasted almost 100 years, Sinan shaped the
Ottoman Empire architecture in 16th century in so many directions
that he was named ‘Great Sinan’, ‘Big Sinan’ by the public while he
was still living. With the courtly works which he built in the era
that he lived, he drove the actual panoramic view of Ottoman Turkish
Istanbul. Sinan, himself is the owner of most of the works that belong
to Ottoman Empire Classical era.

Today world knows that Great Sinan has built over 365 masterpieces
during his lifetime. These are: 84 mosque , 52 masjid, 57 madrasah, 7
darulkura, 22 mausoleum, 17 lodging house, 3 infirmary, 5 water canals,
8 bridge, 20 carvansarai, 36 palace, 8 cellar and 48 Turkish bath.

In this era, the imperial borders had extended from Bagdad to Caucasus,
from Crimean, Poland and Vienna to the whole Balkans and Serbia,
southerly from Arabia peninsula to Sudanese in Africa and to the
Atlantic Ocean.

Sinan had important contributions to mosque design and
construction. The domes and half-domes have been the indispensable
coat elements in these constitutions. He used square,hexagonal and
octagonal plan schemes and in every building he tried a new methodology
of design or a structural component. Facade design has developed a
lot in Sinan era.

His masterpiece is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, although his most
famous work is the Suleiman Mosque in Istanbul.