The Süleymaniye Mosque ( tr, Süleymaniye Camii, ) is an

Ottoman imperial mosque The list below contains some of the most important mosques in modern-day Turkey that were commissioned by the members of Ottoman dynasty, Ottoman imperial family. Some of these major mosques are also known as a selatin mosque, imperial mosque, or ...

located on the Third Hill of

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. The mosque was commissioned by

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...

and designed by the imperial architect

Mimar Sinan Mimar Sinan ( ota, معمار سينان, translit=Mi'mâr Sinân, , ) ( 1488–1490 – 17 July 1588) also known as Koca Mi'mâr Sinân Âğâ, ("Sinan Agha the Grand Architect" or "Grand Sinan") was the chief Ottoman architect ( tr, l ...

. An inscription specifies the foundation date as 1550 and the inauguration date as 1557. Behind the ''

qibla The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the ...

'' wall of the mosque is an enclosure containing the separate octagonal mausoleums of Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife

Hurrem Sultan Hurrem Sultan (, ota, خُرّم سلطان, translit=Ḫurrem Sulṭān, tr, Hürrem Sultan, label= Modern Turkish; 1500 – 15 April 1558), also known as Roxelana ( uk, Роксолана}; ), was the chief consort and legal wife of the Ottom ...

(Roxelana). For 462 years, the Süleymaniye Mosque was the largest mosque in the city, until it was surpassed by the

Çamlıca Mosque Currently the largest mosque in Turkey, the Grand Çamlıca Mosque () ( tr, Büyük Çamlıca Camii) is a complex for Islamic worship which was completed and opened on 7 March 2019. The mosque stands astride Çamlıca Hill in the Üsküdar district ...

in 2019. The Süleymaniye Mosque is one of the best-known sights of Istanbul, and from its location on the Third Hill, it commands an extensive view of the city around the

Golden Horn The Golden Horn ( tr, Altın Boynuz or ''Haliç''; grc, Χρυσόκερας, ''Chrysókeras''; la, Sinus Ceratinus) is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey. As a natural estuary that connects with t ...

History

Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent chose the architect Mimar Sinan to create a mosque in memory of his son Şehzade (Crown Prince) Mehmed. Suleyman was so impressed with the ensuing

Şehzade Mosque The Şehzade Mosque ( tr, Şehzade Camii, from the original Persian شاهزاده ''Šāhzādeh'', meaning "prince") is a 16th-century Ottoman imperial mosque located in the district of Fatih, on the third hill of Istanbul, Turkey. It was com ...

(Şehzade Cami) that he asked Sinan to design a mosque for himself too. This mosque would represent the pre-eminence of the Ottoman Empire. In designing the Süleymaniye Mosque, Sinan took inspiration from the Hagia Sophia and the Bayezid II Mosque. The mosque was built on the site of the old palace ( Eski Saray) of Topkapi which was still in use at the time and had to be demolished. The

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

inscription above the north portal of the mosque is carved in ''

Thuluth ''Thuluth'' ( ar, ثُلُث, ' or ar, خَطُّ الثُّلُثِ, '; fa, ثلث, ''Sols''; Turkish: ''Sülüs'', from ' "one-third") is a script variety of Islamic calligraphy. The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new s ...

'' script on three marble panels. It gives a foundation date of 1550 and an inauguration date of 1557. In reality the planning of the mosque began before 1550 and parts of the complex were not completed until after 1557. The design of the Süleymaniye played on Süleyman's self-conscious representation of himself as a 'second Solomon.' It referenced the Dome of the Rock, which was built on the site of the

Temple of Solomon Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by the ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, as well as Justinian's boast upon the completion of the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

: "Solomon, I have surpassed thee!" The Süleymaniye asserted Süleyman's historical importance although it was smaller in size than Hagia Sophia. The Süleymaniye was damaged in the

great fire of 1660 Two thirds of Constantinople (now Istanbul) were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1660. The chronicler Abdi Paşa estimated that the fire destroyed 280,000 houses and burned for approximately forty-nine hours. During the reconstruction of the city, ...

and was restored by Sultan

Mehmed IV Mehmed IV ( ota, محمد رابع, Meḥmed-i rābi; tr, IV. Mehmed; 2 January 1642 – 6 January 1693) also known as Mehmed the Hunter ( tr, Avcı Mehmed) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the a ...

. Part of the dome collapsed during the earthquake of 1766. Subsequent repairs damaged what was left of Sinan's original decoration (recent cleaning has shown that he experimented with blue, before making red the dominant colour of the dome). During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the courtyard was used as a weapons depot, and when some of the ammunition ignited, the mosque suffered another fire. Not until 1956 was it fully restored again. The mosque was restored again between 2007 and 2010. Parts of the surrounding complex continued to be restored in the decade following.

Architecture

Exterior

Like the other imperial mosques in Istanbul, the entrance to the mosque is preceded by a forecourt with a central fountain. The courtyard is of exceptional grandeur with a colonnaded

peristyle In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peristyle (; from Greek ) is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön ( grc, τετράστῳον or τετράστοον, lit=f ...

with columns of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

and porphyry. The northwest facade of the mosque is decorated with rectangular Iznik tile window lunettes. It was the first building in which the Iznik tiles included the brightly coloured tomato red clay under the glaze. Four minarets occupy the four corners of the courtyard. The two taller ones have three galleries (''serifes'') and rise to a high of without their lead caps and including the caps. Four minarets were added to mosques endowed by a sultan (princes and princesses could construct two minarets; others only one). The minarets have a total of 10 galleries, which is said to reflect the fact that Suleiman I was the 10th Ottoman sultan. The main dome is high and has a diameter of which is exactly half the height. When it was built, it was the highest dome in the Ottoman Empire, when measured from sea level, although it was still lower from its base and smaller in diameter than that of Hagia Sophia.

Interior

20101213 Suleymaniye Mosque Istanbul inside vertical Panorama

The interior of the mosque is almost a square measuring in length and in width, forming a single vast space. The dome is flanked by semi-domes, and to the north and south there are arches with tympana-filled windows, supported by enormous porphyry monoliths. Sinan embarked on a radical architectural innovation to mask the huge north–south buttresses needed to support these central piers - he incorporated the buttresses into the walls of the building, with half projecting inwards and half projecting outwards, and then hid the projections by building colonnaded galleries. There is a single gallery inside the structure, and a two-story gallery outside. The interior decoration is restrained, with stained-glass windows restricted to the ''

'' wall. Iznik tile revetments are only used around the '' mihrab''. The repeating rectangular tiles have a stencil-like floral pattern on a white ground. The flowers are mainly blue with turquoise, red and black but green is not used. On either side of the ''mihrab'' are large Iznik-tile calligraphic roundels with text from the Al-Fatiha

surah A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah (''Al-Ka ...

of the Quran (1:1–7). The white marble mihrab and mimbar are simple in design, and the woodwork is restrained, with simple designs in

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

and mother of pearl.

Mausoleums

In the walled enclosure behind the qibla wall of the mosque are the separate mausoleums (''

türbe ''Türbe'' is the Turkish word for "tomb". In Istanbul it is often used to refer to the mausolea of the Ottoman sultans and other nobles and notables. The word is derived from the Arabic ''turbah'' (meaning ''"soil/ground/earth"''), which ...

'') of Sultan Suleiman I and his wife

(Roxelana). The large octagonal mausoleum of Suleiman the Magnificent bears the date of 1566, the year of his death, but it was probably not completed until the following year. The mausoleum is surrounded by a

with a projecting roof supported by 24 columns; the entrance faces towards the east rather than the usual north. Beneath the portico on either side of the entrance are Iznik tiled panels. These are the earliest known tiles decorated with the bright emerald green colour that would become a common feature of Iznik ceramics. The interior has a false dome supported on eight columns within the outer shell. There are 14 windows at ground level and an additional 24 windows with stained glass set in the tympana under the arches. The walls and

pendentive In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to point ...

s are covered with polychrome Iznik tiles. Above the windows runs a band of inscriptive tiled panels. The text quotes the Throne verse and the following two verses from the Quran (2:255-58). In addition to the tomb of Suleiman the Magnificent, the mausoleum houses the tomb of his daughter Mihrimah Sultan and those of two later sultans: Suleiman II (ruled 1687–1691) and

Ahmed II Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...

(ruled 1691–1695). Hurrem Sultan's octagonal mausoleum is dated 1558, the year of her death. The 16-sided interior is decorated with Iznik tiles. The seven rectangular windows are surmounted by tiled lunettes and epigraphic panels. Between the windows are eight mihrab-like hooded niches. The ceiling is now whitewashed but was probably once painted in bright colours. There is also a large graveyard containing the tombs of notable figures including Gazi Osman Paşa and

Mimar Kemaleddin Ahmet Kemalettin or Kemaleddin (1870-13 July 1927), widely known as Mimar Kemalettin (Kemalettin the Architect) and Kemalettin Bey, was a renowned Turkish architect the during the late Ottoman Empire and the early years of the newly established ...

Complex

As with other imperial mosques in Istanbul, the Süleymaniye Mosque was designed as a ''

külliye A külliye ( ota, كلية) is a complex of buildings associated with Turkish architecture centered on a mosque and managed within a single institution, often based on a waqf (charitable foundation) and composed of a madrasa, a Dar al-Shifa ("c ...

'', or complex, with adjacent structures to service both religious and cultural needs. The mosque incorporates the everyday needs for civilisation such as prayer, education, health and much more. The original complex consisted of the mosque itself, a hospital (''darüşşifa''), primary school (''mekteb''),

public bath Public baths originated when most people in population centers did not have access to private bathing facilities. Though termed "public", they have often been restricted according to gender, religious affiliation, personal membership, and other cr ...

s ('' hamam''), a caravanserai, four

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

schools (''

medrese Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

''), a specialized school for the learning of ''

hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...

'', a medical college and a public kitchen (''

imaret Imaret, sometimes also known as a ''darüzziyafe'', is one of a few names used to identify the public soup kitchens built throughout the Ottoman Empire from the 14th to the 19th centuries. These public kitchens were often part of a larger comple ...

'') which served food to the poor. Many of these structures are still in existence, and the former imaret is now a noted restaurant. The former hospital is now a printing factory owned by the

Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces ( tr, Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), or Turkish Army (Turkish: ), is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the ...

. Just outside the complex walls, to the north is the tomb of architect Sinan. It was completely restored in 1922.

Inscriptions

Religious inscriptions in parts of the mosque demonstrate its stature as a place of sacredness. Quranic messages can be found incorporated throughout the building. For example, the side entrance of the mosque has an inscription reading, "Peace be unto thee! Thou art good, so enter ye to dwell therein" (39:73) On the Qibla wall, the stained-glass windows display the names of God (Allah), the Prophet Muhammad, and the caliphs. They are there to represent Allah as the lawmaker, Muhammad as the preacher, and the four caliphs as the four pillars. of Islam

Gallery

File:Sueleymaniye painting by Osman.jpg, An

Ottoman miniature Ottoman miniature ( tr, Osmanlı minyatürü) or Turkish miniature was a Turkish art form in the Ottoman Empire, which can be linked to the Persian miniature tradition, as well as strong Chinese artistic influences. It was a part of the Ottoma ...

of the Mosque File:Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul.jpg, Süleymaniye Mosque, 1890 File:S03 06 01 003 image 1711.jpg, Exterior aerial shot of Süleymaniye Mosque, 1903. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection File:Suleymaniye Mausoleum Suleyman mausoleum 1230.jpg, Suleiman's mausoleum File:Mausoleum of Roxelana 01.jpg, Mausoleum of

(Roxelana) File:Suleymaniye Mosque 5441.jpg, Süleymaniye Mosque entrance to garden from west File:Suleymaniye Mosque 1215.jpg, Süleymaniye Mosque western portal File:Suleymaniye Mosque 5438.jpg, Süleymaniye Mosque detail File:Suleymaniye Mosque 5427.jpg, Süleymaniye Mosque from north side File:Suleymaniye Mosque 3598.jpg, Süleymaniye Mosque view from south side File:Suleymaniye Mosque 1392.jpg, Süleymaniye Mosque domes from outside File:Suleymaniye Mosque 1319.jpg, Süleymaniye Mosque domes File:2020 Suleymaniye mosque, prayer hall, waiting for Maghrib 04.jpg, Prayer hall and chandelier File:2020 Suleymaniye mosque, prayer hall, muezzin's gallery.jpg, Süleymanyiye Msoque: muezzin's gallery File:Suleymaniye Mosque 6045.jpg, Süleymaniye Mosque during service File:2020 Suleymaniye mosque, courtyard and sadirvan at night.jpg, Süleymaniye Mosque courtyard at night File:2020 Suleymaniye mosque, minaret at night.jpg, Süleymaniye Mosque portico and one of the minarets at night File:Suleymaniye Mosque 1291.jpg, Süleymaniye Mosque window File:Vue panoramique de la Mosquée Suleymanié - Sébah & Joaillier. LCCN2003688284.jpg, Distant View Of The Suleymanie Mosque File:Intérieur de la Mosquée Suleymanié - Sébah & Joaillier. LCCN2003688287.jpg, Interior of the Suleymanie Mosque displaying the Qibla wall and the mihrab.

Buried here

* Suleiman I (1494–1566) * Hürrem Sultan (c. 1502–1558), Suleiman's wife * Mihrimah Sultan (c. 1522–1578) Suleiman and Hürrem's daughter *

(1642/43–1695) *

Rabia Sultan ota, رابعہ سلطان , house = , birth_date = 1670 , birth_place = , death_date = 14 January 1712 , death_place = Old Palace, Beyazıt Square, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire , burial_place= Suleiman the Magnificent Mausoleum, Sül ...

(d. 1712) Ahmed's consort * Asiye Sultan (1694–1695), Ahmed and Rabia's daughter * Suleiman II (1642–1691) * Aşub Sultan (d. 1690) Suleiman's mother

References

## Gabr, Aly (2001). "Rediscovery: Mimar Sinan, Suleyman the Magnificent & the Suleymaniye". ''In Medina Issue Seventeen: Architecture, Interiors & Fine Arts. British Virgin Islands: Medina Magazine''. ## Ching, Francis (2017). ''A Global History of Architecture''. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. p. 533. ## Migeon, Gaston (2009). ''Art of Islam''. Parkstone International. pp.lxxii. ## Kuban, Dogan (1987). "Süleymaniye and Sixteenth-century Istanbul". ''Journal of the Islamic Environmental Design Research Centre 1-2'': 4 – via Archnet.org. ## Necipoglu, Gulru (1985). "The Süleymaniye Complex in Istanbul: An Interpretation". ''In Muqarnas III: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture'': 110 – via Archnet.org.

Sources

* * * * * * *