Sinan

Mimar Sinan (c. 1490 - 1588) was a celebrated and highly accomplished architect based in Ottoman Istanbul. Sinan, pictured here in a pencil portrait by Hazan Riza, served as the Imperial Architect under three consecutive sultans. The first of the three, Süleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520 - 1566), enlisted Sinan to transform the old Byzantine city into a cityscape which both reflected and perpetuated the Ottoman lifestyle, and visually established the city as a new world power. His architectural achievements are varied and vast, and include 79 mosques, 34 palaces, 33 public baths, as well as several schools, hospitals, fountains, and aqueducts. Among the most well-known of his extant buildings are the Süleymaniye Mosque, the Semilye Mosque, and the Şehzade Mosque. In addition to Sinan’s extensive work transforming the visual city, he also undertook a project to repair and modernize the city’s ancient underground waterways. It is not surprising then, to hear scholars refer to “Sinan’s Istanbul” when discussing the sixteenth century.