MIHRIMAH SULTAN'S RELIGIOUS COMPLEX
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It is composed of a mosque, a medersa, an elementary school, a hammam, a mausoleum and shops. A real masterpiece! Once again, Sinan surpassed himself by building this complex (1560-1565) for Soliman's daughter, Princess Mihrimah, who died in 1558 and was buried in Süleymaniye. Mihrimah is an aerial building of exemplary simplicity. Considered as Sinan's "original experimentation", the central space of the mosque has been enlarged here and the half-dome, which usually supported the large dome with its north wing, has been removed, which rests, through pendants, on four pillars of blue and pink granite. If, seen from the outside, the mosque looks like a cube topped by a dome that no visible counter-butt comes to consolidate, the interior reserves the most beautiful surprises. Exceptionally bright, the mosque evokes the most beautiful cathedrals in the West. Four practically translucent eardrums, each pierced with 15 windows and 4 ox's eyes, light flows into an almost transparent space. The fountain of ablutions with sixteen columns and square and massive capitals is characteristic of the 16th century. The minaret was replaced in the 19th century by a baroque one. The double hammam, built on a cruciform plane, has canopies and angular cells. The large dome in the middle is supported by half domes. A fountain was added to the complex in 1778.
