Sinan before Sinan
Born around 1489 in Cappadocia in the village of Agirnas, Sinan, whose real name is Christodoulou, is a Christian of Greek origin. His family gave him a solid education, laying the foundations of an artistic and technical culture on which he would rely throughout his career. These intellectual predispositions earned him a place in the devchirmé. Established under the reign of Murad II, this compulsory service consisted of "collecting" young Christians, identified for their physical and intellectual aptitudes, converting them to Islam, and training them to become soldiers or civil servants in the service of the Sultan. Sinan thus received a complete training within the palace, before joining the janissary corps, the elite soldiers of the Ottoman army. He took part in many campaigns, including that of Belgrade in 1521, where he was noticed for his engineering talents. Indeed, in only 13 days, he managed to build a bridge over the Prut river. This military engineer of genius is quickly spotted by the sultan who invites him to join his suite.
The chief architect of the Empire
In 1538, Sinan was appointed chief architect by Sultan Soliman I. This function is very far from being only honorary and includes, on the contrary, great responsibilities. At the head of the guilds of the building trades, Sinan is also propelled to the head of the department of public works. It was therefore up to him to ensure the proper application of the rules of architecture and urban planning, the control of the quality and prices of materials, the training of the workforce, and the safety and viability of all constructions undertaken. In the Ottoman culture, architecture holds a primordial place, because it is one of the vectors and witnesses of the power of the empire. The sultans will not stop building to establish and prove their power. As chief architect, Sinan has almost unlimited means to undertake his various construction projects. Although he worked for the imperial power (he was the chief architect of three sultans: Soliman I, Selim II and Murad III), Sinan nevertheless developed his own views and his own architectural philosophy which he was able to impose, thus creating a work of a longevity and a coherence like no other. This genius builder has always sought to develop new solutions to achieve architectural beauty, while taking into account the reality of the land and its components. This philosophy is well illustrated by the fact that the 24 Sinan buildings in Istanbul have not suffered any serious deterioration despite the 89 violent earthquakes that have struck the city... Sinan or engineering at the service of architecture.
Civilian achievements
Sinan has always thought of himself as an engineer turned artist. Numerous achievements of civil engineering are thus included in his list of achievements. Extremely important in Islam, as it is considered purifying as well as saving, water has its own architecture to which Sinan tried with success. In 1563, he built the aqueduct of Maglova, 257 m long and 35 m high. We also owe to Sinan about 56 hammams, such as the superb Hamam Haseki Hürrem Sultan where the architect arranged separate spaces reserved for men and women, creating a beautiful mirror effect, or the hammam of Cagaloglu whose openwork dome of stained glass lets in light. Sinan also built many fountains, places of sociability par excellence, of which the fountain of the library of Murad III built in 1578 and recognizable with its sumptuous decoration out of faience of Iznik with floral reasons. Nothing being too modest for the architect, Sinan also worked on the construction of caravanserais, soup kitchens, and he even participated in the restoration of the kitchens of the Topkapi Palace after the fire of 1574. In total, of the 477 works attributed to Sinan, there are 74 colleges or medreses, 56 hammams, 52 oratories, 31 caravanserais, 22 soup kitchens and 9 bridges, not to mention the 38 palaces erected to Ottoman glory.
The mosques of Sinan
It is in 1538 that Sinan undertakes the construction of its first mosque, the Haseki Hürrem Sultan Mosque, in honor of Roxelane, the wife of Sultan Soliman. The mosque is rather modest, but its complex prefigures those of the future great mosques of Sinan. Are added, indeed, to this first mosque a kulliye including a medrese, a hospital, a soup kitchen and a hammam. The Sultana's mosque prefigures another characteristic of Sinan's architecture: by choosing to situate the buildings of the complex at different angles and by playing on the alternation of voids and narrow passages between them, Sinan breaks with the classical composition of the Italian Renaissance cities, very popular at the time, and organized around a single line of perspective, to imagine plural architectural compositions offering multiple points of view and points of access to buildings. By doing so, Sinan can integrate the Stamboulian landscape and its urban fabric into his works, and create an almost organic relationship between the building and its environment. Many of his mosques are built on or on the side of hills, offering amazing views wherever you are. This is the case of the Rüstem Pasha mosque, built in 1560. Overlooking the road, the access to the mosque is done by two stairs leading to a terrace, Sinan having raised the mosque by a podium, so as to stabilize the mosque on a ground initially not very favourable for the construction.
Sinan's mosques have often been compared to Hagia Sophia, which Sinan knows well because he has carried out restoration and consolidation work. It is to him that we owe the addition of the3rd and4th minarets, as well as the raising of the external walls of support allowing to ensure the stability of the unit. However, if Sinan appropriated the example of Hagia Sophia and assimilated it completely, it is to better free himself from it and create his own way. Moreover many elements differentiate the mosques of Sinan from his predecessors. Where Hagia Sophia never had an equivalent, the mosques of Sinan, they were built according to an architectural model that can be reproduced indefinitely. Hagia Sophia imposes itself by its mass and its heavy forms, the mosques of Sinan astonish by their height and their lightness. In Hagia Sophia, the dome exists by itself and seems to do nothing more than cover the prayer hall; in the mosques of Sinan on the contrary, the dome is a part of a whole, which can be understood only in close relationship with all the other components, vaults and domes, giving the impression of being at the heart of a whole that would depend entirely on it. This feeling of unity where each element finds its place harmoniously and where nothing seems too much is found in all the mosques of Sinan, for a feeling of unity conducive to the expression of a new spirituality.
A spiritual rather than religious architect
Sinan was a very pious man who lived his whole life according to the principles of Islam, making humility and modesty the foundations of his philosophy. It is therefore not surprising that he was considered one of the great architects of Islam. However, if we look at his mosques, we understand that far from the codes of traditional Islamic architecture, Sinan invented a spiritual architecture, syncretism of his Christian and Islamic cultures.
As a general rule, the mosques are low, horizontal, poorly lit and must serve as a mystical compass for the believer who must be able to immediately locate the orientation of Mecca, his gaze should never exceed the horizon line. The mosques of Sinan, on the contrary, turn this conception of directional space upside down to create an astonishing verticality with majestic domes in a pyramidal effect symbolizing the elevation of the soul, which is reminiscent of the Gothic impulse that the West knew at the same time. The evolution of this spirituality can be seen in Sinan's three most beautiful mosques: the Shehzade (1548), his apprentice work, the Sulaymānīyah (1550-1557), his journeyman work, and the Selimiye of Edirne (1569-1575), his master work. In the former, Sinan, drawing on his Greek heritage, uses the perfect forms described by Plato and Pythagoras, such as squares turning in a circle or the pyramid, giving the building a philosophical value. The 37 m high and 19 m wide dome, associated with half-domes, rests on 4 octagonal pillars. The facades are decorated with galleries and buttresses, creating an impression of tiered and elevated. As for the two minarets, they impress by the finesse of their sculpture. This effect of giant staircase and stepped pyramid is found in the Sulaymānīyah, which presents a skilful interplay of balances and masses and a close coherence between the interior and exterior spaces, one of the great innovations brought by Sinan. With its 60,000 square meters and 500 domes, the mosque impresses. If for this mosque, Sinan is forced by Soliman to take the basilica plan used by Justinian in Hagia Sophia - the sultan wishing to pose as successor of the Eastern Roman Empire -, he brings his personal vision, playing on the rhythm and elevation of the building dominated by a superb dome 47 m high and 26.5 m in diameter. Sinan also placed the mosque on a system of basins filled with water to allow a stronger resistance to frequent earthquakes. The 4 minarets and their 10 balconies are there, as for them, to recall that Soliman was the4th sultan of Istanbul and the 10th of the Ottoman dynasty. For the anecdote, Sinan, busy on other sites, took delay in the construction of this mosque. Soliman having made him the remark, Sinan devoted himself fully to it, finishing the mosque in a few months only. As a reward, Suleiman gave him the golden key to the mosque and offered to open it officially for the first time. Sinan's masterpiece, the Selimiye, is not in Istanbul, but a few hours drive away in Edirne. For the first time, an Ottoman architect dared to compete with Hagia Sophia and build a dome to match it. Everything in the Selimiye inspires the upward movement so sought after by Sinan. The 4 minarets impress by their proportions, 3.5 m in diameter for 90 m high. The sumptuous dome rests on a series of arches, trunks and vaults, creating a harmonious effect of rhythm and echo. Topped by pyramid-shaped gables, the buttresses absorb the thrusts, while contributing to this elevation movement. Richly decorated, but retaining a profound sobriety, the Selimiye enchants the view and lifts the soul of the faithful.
Posterity
By the longevity of his career, as much as by the quality of his works, Sinan inspired generations of architects after him. Among his most famous disciples is Mehmet Aga, who designed the superb Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
Sinan is buried in a mausoleum that he himself erected within the Sulaymānīyah complex. The mausoleum has a marble roof with a tiny dome, as a nod to all those that made him famous. The architect's work and life are commemorated every year on April 9.
