Mimar Sinan

Who is Mimar Sinan?

Mimar Sinan was the chief architect and civil engineer for the Ottoman sultans Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II and Murad III. Born in Anatolia, likely near Kayseri, he was recruited through the devshirme system and served as a military engineer before being appointed chief royal architect around 1538. Over roughly fifty years he designed and supervised hundreds of structures, including mosques, bridges, aqueducts, baths, caravanserais and tombs across the Ottoman Empire. His masterworks include the Sehzade Mosque and the Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, and above all the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, which he considered his finest achievement and whose vast dome rivals that of Hagia Sophia. Sinan advanced Ottoman architecture through mastery of structural balance, light and monumental domed space. His works are widely regarded as the pinnacle of classical Ottoman architecture, and the Selimiye Mosque is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sources: Gulru Necipoglu, The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire (2005) · UNESCO World Heritage List, Selimiye Mosque and its Social Complex