Sinan: Architect of Suleyman the Magnificent and the Ottoman Golden Age

by John Freely

The greatest architect of the Ottoman Golden Age of the 16th century, Sinan designed hundreds of buildings under Suleyman the Magnificant and Selim II. This volume pays visual tribute to his buildings, including the greatest of Turkish mosques, the Suleymaniye and the Selimiye, complemented by texts which offer new interpretations of Sinan's art.

Genres: Architecture

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

John Freely was born in 1926 in Brooklyn, New York to Irish immigrant parents, and spent half of his early childhood in Ireland. He dropped out of high school when he was 17 to join the U. S. Navy, serving for two years, including combat duty with a commando unit in the Pacific, India, Burma and China during the last year of World War II. After the war, he went to college on the G. I. Bill and eventually received a Ph.D. in physics from New York University, followed by a year of post-doctoral study at Oxford in the history of science. He worked as a research physicist for nine years, including five years at Princeton University. In 1960 he went to İstanbul to teach physics at the Robert College, now the Boğaziçi University, and taught there until 1976. He then went on to teach and write in Athens (1976-79), Boston (1979-87), London (1987-88), İstanbul (1988-91) and Venice (1991-93). In 1993 he returned to Boğaziçi University, where he taught a course on the history of science. His first book, co-authored by the late Hilary Sumner-Boyd, was Strolling Through İstanbul (1972). Since then he has published more than forty books.

Reviews

[Pinar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Benim açımdan oldukça süper bir eser oldu. Biraz böyle Türk-Osmanlı sanatlarıyla ilgi bir şeylere rastlar mıyım diye ararken Helsinki kütüphanesinde olduğunu farkettim.

Yazar çeşitli dönemler İstanbul'da eğitmenlik/akademisyenlik yapmış.

Kitap dört bölümden oluşuyor, ilk bölüm Mimar Sinan'ın yaşadığı dönem Osmanlı, Mimar Sinan'ın kısaca hayatı, ve eserleri tarihsel olarak, ikinci bölümde eserlerine devam ediliyor, üçüncü bölüm daha çok fotoğraflar, dördüncü bölüm kullandığı mimari teknikler, felsefesi, ve çizimler.

Görseller Ara Güler'in fotoğrafları. Çok güzel, ama tabi anlatılan eserlerle paralellikte ve eser detayları şeklinde gitmiyor. Bütün eserlerinin detaylı fotoğrafları olsa on yıldız bir kitap olurdu.

Sanrım Mimar Sinan ile ilgili biraz daha detaylı okuma yapmak istiyorum. Mimar Sinan'ın hayatı ve eserleri konusunda, bir takım eserlerini gezmiş olsam da mimari/tarihi geniş bir bilgim yok. O anlamda kitapta eğer varsa yanlışları farketmemiş olabilirim.

[Ahmet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great account of Sinan's extraordinary professional life accompanied by high quality, descriptive photographs. Although I'm a bit disappointed that it mostly covered the mosques along with a few türbes, and not a single bridge! Selimiye on the jacket is a good choice, but would be a lot better if it was more comprehensive in his works.

One thing to the author/s of the part I'm about to mention: they say something along the lines of "Ayasofya had a great impact on Sinan's works and he modeled Süleymaniye after Ayasofya". He would, of course, have examined it at great detail, but I never got the impression that it was at a obsessive level as suggested-with poor references- a few times in this book.

It was Fatih, who we know from historic accounts as being eager to triumph Ayasofya's splendour. Eh, he took the city and erected the first grand Turkish temple there, very understandable. But I've never heard of Süleyman the Magnificent or Selim II-still less likely!- having similar desires.

Also as an addition, we know that the architect of this enchanting historic landmark-Ayasofya- modeled the edifice after some plans he found at the Cairo Library, not from the Book of Gods :)