Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
10
The Süleymaniye
The Süleymaniye is the second largest but by far the finest and most
magnificent of the imperial mosque complexes in the city. It is a
fitting monument to its founder, Süleyman the Magnificent, and a
masterwork of the greatest of Ottoman architects, the incomparable
Sinan. The mosque itself, the largest of Sinan's works, is perhaps
inferior in perfection of design to that master's Selimiye at Edirne,
but it is incontestably the most important Ottoman building in
Istanbul. For four and a half centuries it has attracted the wonder and
enthusiasm of all travellers to the city.
The construction of the Süleymaniye began in 1550 and the
mosque itself was completed in 1557, but it was some years later
before all the buildings of the külliye were finished. The mosque stands
in the centre of a vast outer courtyard surrounded on three sides by a
wall with grilled windows. On the north side, where the land slopes
sharply down towards the Golden Horn, the courtyard is supported
by an elaborate vaulted substructure; from the terrace here one has a
superb view of the Golden Horn, the hills of Pera on the other side,
the Bosphorus, and the hills of Asia beyond. Around this courtyard
on three sides are arranged the other buildings of the külliye with as
much symmetry as the nature of the site would permit. Nearly all of
these pious foundations have been well-restored and some of them
are once again serving the people of Istanbul as they did in the days of
Süleyman. We will later look at all of those which are presently open
to the public, but first let us visit the great mosque itself.
THE MOSQUE
The mosque is preceded by the usual avlu, a porticoed courtyard of
exceptional grandeur, with columns of the richest porphyry, marble
and granite. The western portal of the court is flanked by a great
pylon containing two stories of chambers; these, according to Evliya,
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