The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire - Hardcover

Necipoglu, Gulru

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1861892446 ISBN 13: 9781861892447

Publisher: Reaktion Books, 2005

Synopsis

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About this title

Review:

`Brushing aside skewed orientalist and nationalist readings which have coloured many previous studies of his work, the author, using original documentation, provides the most detailed written study ever, of not only Sinan's architecture, but also, arguably, of Ottoman culture, politics and society in the classical age . . . Necipoglu's book is a publishing landmark; an astoundingly rich work that, as boldly states on the back cover, "is unlikely ever to be superseded." Without question, The Age of Sinan is one of the most remarkable architectural biographies ever written and the book Sinan's life and work richly deserves.' --Prospect magazine

'this truly marvellous book, which brings together the skills of an architectural historian, linguist and archival researcher, represents a profound advance over and above all previous studies in the field. In its comprehensiveness, its insights, and its careful and close readings of both monuments and documents, Necipoglu's book provides an indispensable and much needed point of reference . . . a true tour de force, one that will instruct and inspire not only students, but also seasoned scholars in the field, serving as a model and as a challenge for many years to come.' --Journal of Islamic Studies

`a remarkable work of synthesis . . . [Gülru Necipoglu] has compiled and reordered all the useful observations made previously; she has re-examined the standard sources, viewing them critically but without obvious prejudice; and she has added an immense amount of information gleaned gleaned from the buildings themselves, and from a wide range of narrative sources. The results can be enlightening'. --Cornucopia magazine

`The effort that has gone into the research and compilation of this publication is remarkable . . . an essential text for anyone with a serious interest in architecture.'
--Architectural Review

Synopsis:

Mimar Koca Sinan (1489-1588), the 'Great Architect Sinan', was appointed chief royal architect to the Ottoman court by Sultan Suleyman I in 1538. During his fifty-year career Sinan 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 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. Sinan's most influential buildings were his mosques, where his inventive experimention 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, guesthouses and hospitals, commissioned by distinguished members of the Ottoman ruling elite.

In this major study, Gulru Necipoglu argues that Sinan's rich variety of mosque designs defy the chronological, single-path model of stylistic development described by most scholars. These complexes were not a result of restless, unrestrained formal experimentation: their construction, negotiated between Sinan and his patrons, were shaped by ideas of identity, memory, and decorum. The author shows how Sinan created a layered system of mosque types, reflecting social status and territorial rank. 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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1861892446
• ISBN 13: 9781861892447
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 592