UID:
kobvindex_INT0002102
Format:
592 pages
,
illustrations (some colour), maps, portraits
,
28 cm
ISBN:
9780691123264
,
9781861892539
,
0691123268
,
1861892535
Content:
"Mimar Koca Sinan (1489-1588), the most celebrated of all Ottoman Empire architects, is particularly renowned for his contributions to the cityscape of Istanbul. During his fifty-year career he designed hundreds of buildings, and his distinctive architectural idiom left its imprint on the terrain of a vast empire extending from the Danube to the Tigris. Sinan's mosques are considered among his best work, and with their light-filled centralized domes, remain a testament to his inventive spirit and passion for experimentation. In this major study of Sinan's extraordinary buildings, Gülru Necipoglu argues that Sinan's rich variety of mosque designs sprang from a process of negotiation between the architect and his patrons, rather than from unrestrained formal experimentation. Using primary source material, Necipoglu describes how Sinan created a layered system of mosque types, reflecting social status and territorial rank."
Content:
"Mimar Koca Sinan (c. 1489-1588), the 'Great Architect Sinan', was appointed chief royal architect to the Ottoman court by Sultan Suleyman I in 1539. During his fifty-year career he designed and constructed hundreds of buildings including mosques, palaces, harems, chapels, tombs, schools, almshouses, madrassahs, caravan serais, granaries, fountains, aqueducts and hospitals. His distinctive architectural idiom also left its imprint over the terrains of a vast empire extending from the Danube to the Tigris, and he became the most celebrated of all Ottoman architects, particularly renowned for his influence on the cityscape of Istanbul. Sinan's most influential buildings were his mosques, where his inventive experimentation with light-filled centralized domes, often compared with parallel developments in Renaissance Italy, produced spaces in which the central dome appeared weightless and the interior surfaces bathed in light. His innovations reached their height in grand mosque complexes comprising schools, baths, guest-houses and hospitals, commissioned by distinguished members of the Ottoman ruling elite. In this innovative, major study, Gülru Necipoglu argues that Sinan's rich variety of mosque designs sprang from a process of negotiation between the architect and his patrons, rather than from restless, unrestrained formal experimentation as has been previously described. The author is the first to use published and unpublished primary sources to illuminate the cultural setting in which Sinan's monuments were produced and 'received'. She describes how Sinan created a layered system of mosque types, reflecting social status and territorial rank, shaped by ideas of identity, memory and decorum. Seen from this perspective, Sinan's monuments, with their highly standardized pattern of forms, used in ingeniously varied combinations, acquire dimensions of meaning that have not been previously recognised."
Language:
English
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