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Süleymaniye Mosque is a mosque built by Mimar Sinan in Istanbul
between 1551 and 1557 in the name of Suleiman the Magnificent.
Süleymaniye Mosque, described as the work of Mimar Sinan's
journeyman period, was built as a part of the Süleymaniye Social
Complex, consisting of madrasas, library, hospital, primary school,
bath, soup kitchen, cemetery and shops.
Süleymaniye Mosque is one of the most important examples of Classical
Ottoman Architecture. Although more than a hundred earthquakes have
occurred in Istanbul since its construction, not the slightest crack has
appeared on the walls of the mosque. The dome of the mosque, which sits
on four elephant legs, is 53 m high and 27.5 m in diameter. This main
dome is supported by two half domes, as seen in Hagia Sophia. There are
32 windows in the dome drum. There is a minaret in each of the four
corners of the mosque courtyard. Two of these minarets adjacent to the
mosque have three balconies each and are 76 m high. The other two
minarets, located in the northern corner of the mosque courtyard at the
corner of the entrance wall of the narthex, have two balconies each and
are 56 m high. The mosque was built in accordance with the air flow that
will clean the oil lamp soot inside. In other words, it was built in a
way to create an air flow inside the mosque that allows the soot from
the oil lamps to collect in a single point. The soot from the mosque was
collected in the room above the main entrance door and these soot were
used to make ink.
There is a rectangular fountain in the middle
of the mosque courtyard surrounded by 28 porticoes. On the qibla side of
the mosque, there is a burial chamber where Suleiman the Magnificent and
his wife Hürrem Sultan are located. The dome of the tomb of Suleiman the
Magnificent was decorated from the inside with diamonds placed between
metallic plates to give the image of a sky full of stars.
The
mosque has a simple structure in terms of decorations. The windows on
the mihrab wall are decorated with stained glass. The Sura of Conquest
is written on the tile medallions on the windows on both sides of the
mihrab, and the Sura of Nur is written in the middle of the main dome of
the mosque. The calligrapher of the mosque is Hasan Çelebi.
Suleymaniye mosque has 4 minarets. The reason for this is that Suleiman
the Magnificent was the fourth sultan after the conquest of Istanbul;
The ten honors on these four minarets are a sign that he is the tenth
sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Among the Ottoman social complexes,
the second largest social complex after the Fatih social complex is the
Süleymaniye social complex. The complex was built on the highest hill in
the middle of the Istanbul peninsula, overlooking the Golden Horn,
Marmara, Topkapi Palace and the Bosphorus. In the social complex
consisting of mosques, madrasas, darüşşifa, darülhadis, fountain,
darülkurra, darüzziyafe, soup kitchen, bathhouse, tabhane, library and
shops, Mimar Sinan's tomb is a modest small building opposite the outer
courtyard walls. Two madrassas surround the Tiryakiler Bazaar, and there
are two small houses on the road behind it.
"In the horizon
single-storey madrasahs, which form one side of the long, narrow square
called Tiryakiler Bazaar, the almshouses of the inner rooms determined
by a window under each dome, the façade in an ascetic attitude that is
content with little, remind us of the decorated order of the madrasah
wall windows and dome rows in the Mimar Sultan Social Complex."
The arch of the main dome was called the arch of kubra, (belt of power)
by Sinan. The platform of the mosque courtyard is higher than the road
on the Golden Horn side.
According to Evliya Çelebi, the construction of the mosque was as
follows: "They gathered together all the thousands of excellent masters,
architects, master builders, workers, masons and marble workers in the
whole Ottoman country, and for three years, they lowered the foundation
of the mosque underground, with all its feet tied. In three years, the
foundation of the building rose to the ground and the building was
created. A year later, the mihrab was placed according to Sultan
Bayazıdı Veli's pattern. They raised the walls on all four sides for 3
years until the dome reached between them. After that, they built the
high dome on four strong pillars. How the Süleymaniye Mosque was shaped,
this The top of the blue stone of the dome of the great mosque is a dome
that is rounder than the dome of Hagia Sophia and covers the world seven
cubits higher. Apart from the four legs of this unique dome, there are
four porphyry marble columns on the left and right of the mosque, each
of which is worth ten Egyptian treasures... But God knows. These four
red porphyry columns are unique in the four corners of the world, they
are beautiful columns with a height of fifty cubits... The colored glass
on the mihrab and pulpit are the work of Serhoş İbrahim. There are many
hundreds of thousands of pieces in each piece of glass, colored scrap
glass, glass decorated with flowers and the beautiful names of Allah,
which are praised worldwide among land and sea travelers, and are
unprecedented in the world... The master who worked the marble
supposedly built a muezzin's gallery on a thin column. It is one of the
places of heaven... The verse "Whenever Zakariya entered the altar, he
found food next to it" (Ali İmran: 37) is written in dark blue with
Karahisari calligraphy on the altar.
And on the right and left of
the mihrab, there are twisted, lace-shaped columns, and there are twenty
weights of camphor wax on candlesticks polished with pure copper and
pure gold, the height of a man. In the left corner of the mosque, there
is a high position in the form of a column, the Hünkar mahfil, ...four
columns are in the corners of the piers. There are four aşırhan
maksurelets... There are side suffas on both sides of the mosque...
Again, on thin columns similar to these suffas, they overlook the sea
and the right side overlooks the bazaar... When the congregation is
large, they pray in these suffas... They light lamps on holy nights. all
twenty-two thousand oil lamps and hanging chandeliers. Inside this
mosque, there is a fountain on the two pillars behind the Qibla Gate.
and Upper Treasury Maksures under some arches.
The Ahmed
Karahisari calligraphy inside and outside this mosque remains unwritten
today. First, in the middle of the big dome, Allah is the light of the
heavens and the earth. The attribute of his light is as if it were a
cell with a lamp inside. That lamp is in a glass. That glass lamp is a
star that shines like a pearl. It is a blessed tree that has no relation
to where the sun rises or sets. It is kindled and burned from olive
trees. Even if its oil is not touched by fire, it immediately gives
light, which is light upon light. God creates parables for people. He
showed his seven virtues in writing the verse 'Allah knows everything'.
(Nur 35). Inside the semi-dome on the mihrab... (Enam 79) verse. And in
the corners of the four pillars, Allah, Muhammad, Abu Bakr, Omar, Osman,
Ali, Hasan, Hussein were written. And the verse... (Jin 18) is written
on the window to the right of the pulpit. The beautiful names of Allah
are written on the upper windows.
And this mosque has 5 gates. On
the right side is the imam's door, on the left is the sultan's gathering
place, below it is the vezera door and there are two side doors, on the
left side door is written (Rad 24), and in the inscription on the left
side on the qibla door, the Ketebehu Ahmed el Karahisari chronicle has
been written.
You can go up and down the three lofty gates of the
mosque, the Sharif's mentioned section, and the harem Latif's three
lofty gates via stone stairs... and all of them overlooking the four
sides of this courtyard are windows. The blacksmith Davudi showed such
artistry that he hit the anvil in such a way that until now, not a speck
of polish had been left on it. They are windows that are not affected by
dust and are bright like Puladi Nakhchevani. And all the glass like
these windows... There is an exemplary pool in the middle... The qibla
door of the courtyard is a higher art than all other doors, and there is
no door similar to this door in the world, with a white raw marble
threshold and a hooked and civilized door with layers of armor. All raw
marble... And the four minarets of this mosque have the characteristics
that each of them has a call to prayer in the Muhammadan position...
four minarets have ten layers... The three balconied minarets on the
left are called the Cevahir minaret... and there are forty ablutions on
both sides of this mosque. It has freshening taps.
The fortitude
in laying the foundation, the works of elegance and beauty in its
corner, and the fascinating appearance of all kinds of arts are present
inside and outside this mosque. In fact, when the building is completed,
Big Architect Sinan says: 'My Sultan, I built a mosque for you, so that
on the day of judgment, when Hallacı Mansur throws the mountains of
Makalidi Cibal Demavend on the earth like cotton from Hallaj's bow, he
will praise this rank congress like a cannon in front of Mansur's
bowstring in the dome of this mosque.
An arrow's throw in front
of the mihrab, a rose garden can be seen in complete disrepair, and
Suleiman Khan's anointing - may the earth be light - is seen under a
high dome.
There is another outer courtyard on three sides of the
mosque, each side of which is a sand field with a horse range. It is a
large courtyard decorated with all kinds of lofty plane trees, weeping
willows, cypresses, lindens, elms and ash trees. All three sides have
walls with windows and ten gates. ...The bath door facing the east side.
You can reach the bath by stairs, but there is no wall of the courtyard
on this side, a low wall has been built on the side for viewing the city
of Istanbul. All the people stand there and see Hünkar Palace, Üsküdar,
Boğazhisar, Beşiktaş, Tophane and Galata, Kasımpaşa and Okmeydan.
On the right and left of this mosque, there are four large madrasahs
for the sheikh al-Islams of the four sects, a darülhadis and a
darülkurra, as well as a medical science madrasah, a primary school, a
hospital, a soup kitchen, a dining hall, a tavhanei, a caravanserai for
guests, a caravanserai for those who come and go. Janissary Agha Palace,
a jewelers, molders, shoemakers and a thousand servants' houses,
including a relatively bright Turkish bath...
When the
Süleymaniye Mosque was completed, according to the accounts of the
building administrator, the minister and the trustee, it was 8 times
100,000 and ninety thousand three thousand three hundred and eighty
three loads of floris." (Gökyay 343-60)
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Suleymaniye Madrasahs located in the Suleymaniye Complex are a special part of a giant project created by Suleiman the Magnificent, Sokullu and Mimar Sinan. The management of the Suleymaniye Madrasahs was shaped by the triangle of the sultan, the grand vizier and the board of trustees, within the framework of the terms of the foundation charter. Suleymaniye Madrasahs, one of the most important components of the Suleymaniye Complex, represented the highest stage in the Ottoman madrasah hierarchy. The first "Medical Madrasa", also known as "Daruttıb" madrasah, was seen here. Candidate chief physicians of the period were trained in these madrasahs. The medical madrasa and hospital located within the Suleymaniye Complex is a place where the ancient medical knowledge inherited from centers such as Ancient Greece, Byzantium, Seljuk, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Transoxiana and Syria was carefully examined, revised and corrected, the useful was reproduced, developed and disseminated, and where original knowledge was established. These were the centers of knowledge where they were created, financed by the foundation system, legitimized at all levels and put into circulation. Among the founders of the Modern Medical School, there will be names such as Osman Saib Efendi, Abdülhak Molla and Mustafa Behçet Efendi, who were educated at the Süleymaniye Medical Madrasa.