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133-524: The son of a stonemason, he received a technical education and became a military engineer. He rose rapidly through the ranks to become first an officer and finally a Janissary commander, with the honorific title of Sinan. He refined his architectural and engineering skills while on campaign with the Janissaries, becoming expert at constructing fortifications of all kinds, as well as military infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges and aqueducts . At about

266-622: A Rankean -cum-statist methodology and perspective." In 1930 the book Türk Tarihinin Ana Hatları (The Mainlines of Turkish History) which emphasized the ability of Turks was published under the auspices of the Committee for the study of Turkish History This book, printed only 100 times, formed the basis for the Turkish History Thesis , which posited that Turks emigrated in several waves to China, India, Northern Africa and Europa to populate

399-406: A UNESCO World Heritage Site . At the start of his career as an architect, Sinan had to deal with an established, traditional domed architecture. His training as an army engineer led him to approach architecture from an empirical point of view, rather than from a theoretical one. He started to experiment with the design and engineering of single-domed and multiple-domed structures. He tried to obtain

532-552: A tax of one-fifth on all slaves taken in war , and from this pool of manpower the sultans first constructed the Janissary corps as a personal army loyal only to the Ottoman sultan . From the 1380s to 1648, the Janissaries were gathered through the devşirme system, which was abolished in 1648. This was the taking (enslaving) of non-Muslim boys, notably Anatolian and Balkan Christians; Jews were never subject to devşirme . There

665-731: A European style military band trained by Giuseppe Donizetti . In modern times, although the Janissary corps no longer exists as a professional fighting force, the tradition of Mehter music is carried on as a cultural and tourist attraction. In 1952, the Janissary military band , Mehterân , was organized again under the auspices of the Istanbul Military Museum . They hold performances during some national holidays as well as in some parades during days of historical importance. For more details, see Turkish music (style) and Mehter . Turkish Historical Society The Turkish Historical Society ( Turkish : Türk Tarih Kurumu ; TTK )

798-418: A Janissary revolt deposed Sultan Selim III , who had tried to modernize the army along Western European lines. This modern army that Selim III created was called Nizam-ı Cedid . His supporters failed to recapture power before Mustafa IV had him killed, but elevated Mahmud II to the throne in 1808. When the Janissaries threatened to oust Mahmud II, he had the captured Mustafa executed and eventually came to

931-548: A World Cup qualifying game between the two countries' national soccer teams. In 2009, the president of the organization falsely claimed: The research Yusuf Halaçoğlu conducted at the Ottoman, UN, US, German, French, British, and Russian archives has revealed that the Armenians murdered 532,000 Muslims whereas the number of Armenians who died during the deportations was around 47,000. Of these, 37,000 perished due to hunger, illness, and

1064-542: A beard, taking up a skill other than soldiering, and marrying. As a result, the Janissaries were extremely well-disciplined troops and became members of the askeri class, the first-class citizens or military class. Most were of non-Muslim origin because it was not permissible to enslave a Muslim. It was a similar system to the Iranian Safavid , Afsharid , and Qajar era ghilmans , who were drawn from converted Circassians , Georgians , and Armenians , and in

1197-483: A community centre and serving the social needs and the health problems of the faithful. When Sinan died, classical Ottoman architecture had reached its climax. No successor was gifted enough to better the design of the Selimiye Mosque and to develop it further. His students retreated to earlier models, such as the Şehzade mosque. Invention faded away, and a decline set in. According to the official list of his works,

1330-404: A compromise with the Janissaries. Ever mindful of the threat that the Janissaries posed, the sultan spent the next years discreetly securing his position. The Janissaries' abuse of power, military ineffectiveness, resistance to reform, and the cost of salaries to 135,000 men, many of whom were not actually serving soldiers, had all become intolerable. By 1826, the sultan was ready to move against

1463-407: A conception of a whole. An architect could sketch a plan for a new building and an assistant or foreman knew what to do, because novel ideas were avoided. Moreover, architects used an extravagant margin of safety in their designs, resulting in a wasteful use of material and labour. Sinan would gradually change all this. He was to transform established architectural practices, amplifying and transforming

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1596-571: A formidable department with a great number of assistants, finished this formidable task in seven years. Before Süleymaniye, no mosques had been built with half cubic roofs. He got the idea of half cubic roof design from the Hagia Sophia . Through this monumental achievement, Sinan emerged from the anonymity of his predecessors. Sinan must have known the ideas of the Renaissance architect Leone Battista Alberti (who in turn had studied De architectura by

1729-507: A group of Turkish scholars. Proponents of the racial science popular at the time, they claimed that measurements of Sinan's skull proved that he was actually Turkish. As of 2016, the skull is missing. His name is also given to: Sinan's portrait was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 10,000 lira banknotes of 1982–1995 and a 7 500 000 lira coin of 2001 (in the "millennium" series), also on 6 postage stamps: 100 lira 1957 (400th anniversary of

1862-458: A hillside beyond Ayvansaray. Sinan certainly conceived the plans and partly supervised the construction, but left the building of lesser areas to less than competent hands, since Sinan and his most able assistants were about to begin his masterpiece, the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. On the outside, the mosque rises high, with its east wall pierced by four tiers of windows. This gives the mosque an aspect of

1995-512: A master of archery, while at the same time, as an architect, learning the weak points of structures when gunning them down. In 1535 he participated in the Baghdad campaign as a commanding officer of the Royal Guard. In 1537 he went on expeditions to Corfu and Apulia and Moldavia . During these campaigns he proved himself an able architect and engineer. When the Ottoman army captured Cairo , Sinan

2128-485: A member of their own family. Less popular theories among scholars are that Sinan was Albanian , or even Jewish , or Christian Turkish . According to the Encyclopædia Britannica , Sinan had either Armenian or Greek origin. A local tradition in the village of Shiroka Lăka holds that Sinan was of Bulgarian origin and his family came from that village. Turkish scholars have meanwhile argued that Sinan's family

2261-421: A method of recruitment. The prescribed daily rate of pay for entry-level Janissaries in the time of Ahmet I was three Akçes . Promotion to a cavalry regiment implied a minimum salary of 10 Akçes. Janissaries received a sum of 12 Akçes every three months for clothing incidentals and 30 Akçes for weaponry, with an additional allowance for ammunition as well. For all practical purposes, Janissaries belonged to

2394-465: A mosque in one of his most imaginative designs, using new support systems and lateral spaces to increase the area available for windows. He built a central dome 37 m (121 ft) high and 20 m (66 ft) wide, supported by pendentives , on a square base with two lateral galleries, each with three cupolas. At each corner of this square stands a gigantic pier, connected with immense arches each with 15 large windows and four circular ones, flooding

2527-598: A moustache. These rules were obeyed by Janissaries, at least until the 18th century when they also began to engage in other crafts and trades, breaking another of the original rules. In the late 16th century a sultan gave in to the pressures of the Janissary Corps and permitted Janissary children to become members of the Corps, a practice strictly forbidden for 200 years. Consequently, succession rules, formerly strict, became open to interpretation. They gained their own power but kept

2660-678: A move known as the Slaughter of the Knezes . According to historical sources of the city of Valjevo , the heads of the murdered men were put on public display in the central square to serve as an example to those who might plot against the rule of the Janissaries. The event triggered the start of the Serbian Revolution with the First Serbian Uprising aimed at putting an end to the 370 years of Ottoman occupation of modern Serbia . In 1807,

2793-437: A new geometrical purity, a rationality and a spatial integrity in his structures and designs of mosques. Through all this, he demonstrated his creativity and his wish to create a clear, unified space. He started to develop a series of variations on the domes, surrounding them in different ways with semi-domes, piers, screen walls and different sets of galleries. His domes and arches are curved, but he avoided curvilinear elements in

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2926-451: A number of ways. They wore unique uniforms , were paid regular salaries (including bonuses) for their service, marched to music (the mehter ), lived in barracks and were the first corps to make extensive use of firearms. A Janissary battalion was a close-knit community, effectively the soldier's family. By tradition, the Sultan himself, after authorizing the payments to the Janissaries, visited

3059-466: A palace or even a block of apartments. Inside, there are three broad galleries making the interior look compact. The heaviness of this structure makes the dome look unexpectedly lofty. These galleries look like a preliminary try-out for the galleries of the Selimiye Mosque . In this late stage of his life, Sinan tried to create unified and sublimely elegant interiors. To achieve this, he eliminated all

3192-571: A perfect God. Sinan used subtle geometric relationships, using multiples of two when calculating the ratios and the proportions of his buildings. However, in a later stage, he also used divisions of three or ratios of two to three when working out the width and the proportions of domes, such as the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque at Kadırga. While he was fully occupied with the construction of the Süleymaniye, Sinan or his subordinates drew up

3325-406: A result of the sultan taking his traditional one-fifth share of his army's plunder in kind rather than monetarily; however, the continuing enslaving of dhimmi constituted a continuing abuse of a subject population. For a while, the Ottoman government supplied the Janissary corps with recruits from the devşirme system. Children were drafted at a young age and turned into soldiers in an attempt to make

3458-725: A series of wars with the Safavid Empire and, after 1593, with the Habsburg monarchy . By 1609, the size of the corps had stabilized at approximately 40,000 men, but increased again later in the century, during the period of the Cretan War (1645–1669) and particularly the War of the Holy League (1683–1699). During the initial period of formation, Janissaries were expert archers , but they began adopting firearms as soon as such became available during

3591-511: A spacious, high-vaulted basement, slender minarets, single-domed baldacchino , flanked by three semi-domes ending in three exedrae and a broad double portico . The construction was finished in 1548. The construction of a double portico was not a first in Ottoman architecture, but it set a trend for country mosques and mosques of viziers in particular. Rüstem Pasha and Mihrimah required them later in their three mosques in Constantinople and in

3724-563: A theoretical one. But the same can be said of the great Western Renaissance architects, such as Brunelleschi and Michelangelo . Various sources state that Sinan was the architect of at least 374 structures which included 92 mosques ; 52 small mosques ( mescit ); 55 schools of theology ( medrese ); 7 schools for Koran reciters ( darülkurra ); 20 mausoleums ( türbe ); 17 public kitchens ( imaret ); 3 hospitals ( darüşşifa ); 6 aqueducts ; 10 bridges ; 20 caravanserais ; 36 palaces and mansions ; 8 vaults ; and 48 baths . Sinan held

3857-511: A work of his apprenticeship period and the Süleymaniye Mosque , which is the work of his qualification stage. The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne is the product of his master stage. Şehzade Mosque is the first of the grand mosques created by Sinan. The Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, which is also known as the Üsküdar Quay Mosque, was completed in the same year and has an original design with its main dome supported by three half domes. When Sinan reached

3990-616: Is a research society studying the history of Turkey and the Turkish people , founded in 1931 by the initiative of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk , with headquarters in Ankara , Turkey . It has been described as "the Kemalist official producer of nationalist historical narratives ". Turkish sociologist Fatma Müge Göçek states that the TTK "failed to carry out independent research of Turkish history, remaining instead

4123-463: Is disputed, mainly between Armenian , and Cappadocian Greek . One argument that lends credence to his Armenian or Greek background is a decree by Selim II dated Ramadan 7 981 (ca. December 30, 1573), which granted Sinan's request to forgive and spare his relatives from the general exile of Kayseri's Armenian community to the island of Cyprus ; this decree was published in the June 1930-May 1931 edition of

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4256-466: Is however evidence that Jews tried to enroll into the system. Jews were not allowed in the janissary army, and so in suspected cases, the entire batch would be sent to the Imperial Arsenal as indentured laborers. Ottoman documents from the levy of the winter of 1603-1604 from Bosnia and Albania wrote to draw attention to some children as possibly being Jewish ( şekine-i arz-ı yahudi ). According to

4389-537: Is markedly different from the additive plans of traditional Ottoman architecture. Sedefkar Mehmed Agha would later copy the concept of fluted piers in his Sultan Ahmed Mosque in an attempt to lighten their appearance. Sinan, however, rejected this solution in his next mosques. By 1550, Suleiman the Magnificent was at the height of his powers. Having built a mosque for his son, he felt it was time to construct his own imperial mosque , an enduring monument larger than all

4522-462: Is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne . Breaking free of the handicaps of traditional Ottoman architecture, this mosque marks the climax of Sinan's work and of all classical Ottoman architecture. While it was being built, the architect's saying of " You can never build a dome larger than the dome of Hagia Sophia and specially as Muslims " was his main motivation. When it was completed, Sinan claimed that it had

4655-904: Is the nearly 635 m (2,083 ft) long Büyükçekmece Bridge. Other important examples are the Ailivri Bridge, the Old Bridge in Svilengrad on the Maritsa, the Lüleburgaz (Sokullu Mehmet Pasha) Bridge on the Lüleburgaz River, the Sinanlı Bridge over the river Ergene and the Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge over Drina river in Bosnia and Herzegovina . While Sinan was maintaining and improving

4788-709: The Encyclopedia Britannica , "in early days, all Christians were enrolled indiscriminately. Later, those from what is now Albania , Bosnia , Greece and Bulgaria were preferred." Bektashism became the official order of the Janissary corps in 15th century. The Janissaries were kapıkulları (sing. kapıkulu ), "door servants" or "slaves of the Porte ", neither freemen nor ordinary slaves ( köle ). They were subjected to strict discipline, but were paid salaries and pensions upon retirement and formed their own distinctive social class. As such, they became one of

4921-460: The devşirme system of child levy enslavement, by which indigenous European Christian boys from the Balkans (predominantly Albanians , Bulgarians , Croats , Greeks , Romanians , Serbs , and Ukrainians ) were taken, levied, subjected to forced circumcision and forced conversion to Islam (in contradiction to traditional Islamic law, which forbids forced conversion), and incorporated into

5054-410: The Balkans ) every five years for the strongest sons of the sultan's Christian subjects. These boys (usually between the ages of 10 and 20) were then taken from their parents, circumcised , and sent to Turkish families in the provinces to be raised as Muslims and learn Turkish language and customs. Once their military training began, they were subjected to severe discipline, being prohibited from growing

5187-426: The Ottoman army . They became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical slaves , they were paid regular salaries. Forbidden to marry before the age of 40 or engage in trade, their complete loyalty to the Ottoman sultan was expected. By the seventeenth century, due to a dramatic increase in the size of the Ottoman standing army, the corps' initially strict recruitment policy

5320-594: The Rüstem Pasha Mosque , as a memorial supervised by his widow Mihrimah Sultan . It is situated just below the Süleymaniye . This time the central form is octagonal, modelled on the monastery church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus , with four small semi-domes set in the corners. In the same year, Sinan built a türbe for Rüstem Pasha in the garden of the Şehzade Mosque , decorated with the finest tiles Iznik could produce. Mihrimah Sultan, having doubled her wealth after

5453-568: The Sublime Porte to submit plans for a bridge spanning the Golden Horn . Mimar Sinan's works are among the most influential buildings in history. Mimar Sinan was born with the name Joseph in a small town called Ağırnas near the city of Kayseri in Anatolia (as stated in an order by Sultan Selim II ). His birth is variously placed either between 1489 and 1491 or between 1494 and 1499. His origin

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5586-674: The Sultan Ahmed Mosque and Mimar Hayruddin , architect of the Stari Most . He is considered the greatest architect of the classical period of Ottoman architecture and has been compared to Michelangelo , his contemporary in the West. Michelangelo and his plans for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome were well known in Istanbul, since Leonardo da Vinci and he had been invited, in 1502 and 1505 respectively, by

5719-491: The Tezkiretü'l Ebniye , during his 50 year tenure of the post of imperial architect Sinan constructed or supervised 476 buildings, 196 of which survive. He could not possibly have designed them all, but relied on the skills of his office. He took credit and the responsibility for their work. As a janissary , and thus a slave of the sultan, his primary responsibility was to the sultan. In his spare time, he also designed buildings for

5852-468: The Turkish style . Examples include Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 (c. 1783), Beethoven's incidental music for The Ruins of Athens (1811), and the final movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 , although the Beethoven example is now considered a march rather than Alla turca. Sultan Mahmud II abolished the mehter band in 1826 along with the Janissary corps. Mahmud replaced the mehter band in 1828 with

5985-592: The White Tower of Thessaloniki , as well as Muradie Mosque , during Suleiman the Magnificent's stay in the town for the preparation of his expedition towards Italy . In 1541, he started the construction of the mausoleum ( türbe ) of the Grand Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa . It stands on the shore of Beşiktaş on the European part of Istanbul, at the site where his fleet used to assemble. Oddly enough,

6118-526: The acemi oğlan , as well as avoiding the physical selection, thereby reducing their military value. When Janissaries could practically extort money from the Sultan and business and family life replaced martial fervour, their effectiveness as combat troops decreased. The northern borders of the Ottoman Empire slowly began to shrink southwards after the second Battle of Vienna in 1683. In 1449, they revolted for

6251-474: The dervish saint Haji Bektash Veli , disciples of whom had blessed the first troops. Bektashi Order served as a kind of chaplain for Janissaries. In this and in their secluded life, Janissaries resembled Christian military orders like the Knights Hospitaller . As a symbol of their devotion to the order, Janissaries wore special hats called "börk". These hats also had a holding place in front, called

6384-412: The devşirme because it offered a possibility of social advancement. Conscripts could one day become Janissary colonels, statesmen who might one day return to their home region as governors, or even Grand Viziers or Beylerbeys (governor generals). Some of the most famous Janissaries include George Kastrioti Skanderbeg , an Albanian feudal lord who defected and led a 25‑year Albanian revolt against

6517-404: The devşirme was extended to include Armenians , Bulgarians , Croats , Hungarians , Serbs and later Bosniaks , and, in rare instances, Romanians , Georgians , Circassians , Ukrainians and southern Russians . This "child levy" system was regularly implemented during the 15th-16th centuries, the first two centuries of its existence. Some historians argue this system contributed to

6650-418: The "kaşıklık", for a spoon. This symbolized the "kaşık kardeşliği", or the "brotherhood of the spoon", which reflected a sense of comradeship among the Janissaries who ate, slept, fought and died together. When a non-Muslim boy was recruited under the devşirme system, he would first be sent to selected Turkish families in the provinces to learn Turkish , the rules of Islam (i.e. to be converted to Islam) and

6783-472: The 1440s. The siege of Vienna in 1529 confirmed the reputation of their engineers, e.g. sappers , and miners . In melee combat, they used axes and kilijs . Originally in peacetime, they could carry only clubs or daggers , unless they served as border troops. Turkish yatagan swords were the signature weapon of the Janissaries, almost a symbol of the corps. Janissaries who guarded the palace (Zülüflü Baltacılar) carried long-shafted axes and halberds . By

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6916-477: The 1453 capture of Constantinople , the defeat of the Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo and wars against Hungary and Austria . Janissary troops were always led to the battle by the Sultan himself, and always had a share of the loot . The Janissary corps was the only infantry division of the Ottoman army. In battle the Janissaries' main mission was to protect the Sultan, using cannon and smaller firearms, and holding

7049-540: The 17th century. In response to foreign threats, the Ottoman government chose to rapidly expand the size of the corps after the 1570s. Janissaries spent shorter periods of time in training as acemi oğlan s, as the average age of recruitment increased from 13.5 in the 1490s to 16.6 in 1603. This reflected not only the Ottomans' greater need for manpower but also the shorter training time necessary to produce skilled musketeers in comparison with archers. However, this change alone

7182-564: The Ibrahim Pasha School. Possibly, he was given the Islamic name Sinan there. He initially learned carpentry and mathematics but through his intellectual qualities and ambitions, he soon assisted the leading architects and got his training as an architect. During the next six years, he also trained to be a Janissary officer ( acemioğlan ). He possibly joined Selim I in his last military campaign, Rhodes according to some sources, but when

7315-595: The Iskele Mosque, the sultan ordered Sinan to build a new major mosque with an adjoining complex in memory of his favourite son. This Şehzade Mosque would become larger and more ambitious than his previous ones. Architectural historians consider this mosque as Sinan's first masterpiece. Obsessed by the concept of a large central dome, Sinan turned to the plans of mosques such as the Fatih Pasha Mosque in Diyarbakır or

7448-565: The Istanbul Turkish journal Türk Tarihi Encümeni Mecmuası . Godfrey Goodwin stated that "after the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus in 1571, when Selim II decided to repopulate the island by transferring Rum (Orthodox Christian) families from the Karaman Eyalet , Sinan intervened on behalf of his family and obtained two orders from the Sultan in council exempting them from deportation." According to several scholars, this means that his family

7581-460: The Janissaries in favour of a more modern military. The sultan informed them, through a fatwa , that he was forming a new army, organised and trained along modern European lines. As predicted, they mutinied, advancing on the sultan's palace. In the ensuing fight, the Janissaries' barracks were set aflame by artillery fire, resulting in 4,000 Janissary fatalities. The survivors were either exiled or executed, and their possessions were confiscated by

7714-430: The Magnificent is an interesting experiment, with an octagonal body and flat dome. The Selim II Mausoleum with has a square plan and is one of the best examples of Turkish mausoleum architecture. Sinan's own mausoleum, which is located in the north-east part of the Süleymaniye complex on the other hand, is a very plain structure. Sinan masterfully combined art with functionalism in the bridges he built. The largest of these

7847-416: The Ottoman military. In the classical period, Janissaries were only one-tenth of the overall Ottoman army, while the traditional Turkish cavalry made up the rest of the main battle force. According to David Nicolle , the number of Janissaries in the 14th century was 1,000 and about 6,000 in 1475. The same source estimates the number of Timarli Sipahi , the provincial cavalry which constituted the main force of

7980-403: The Ottoman states efforts at conversion and "Islamization" of its non-Muslim populations. Radushev states this recruitment system can be bisected into two periods, its first, or classical period, encompassing those first two centuries of regular execution and utilization to supply recruits; and a second period which more focuses on its gradual change, decline, and ultimate abandonment, beginning in

8113-598: The Ottomans . Another was Sokollu Mehmed Paşa , a Bosnian Serb who became a grand vizier, served three sultans, and was the de facto ruler of the Ottoman Empire for more than 14 years. The Janissaries were no exception to the weakening of central imperial authority in the 18th century. Trade and commercial activity replaced the disciplined military service of earlier centuries, and the Janissaries were willing to engage in violent acts of rebellion to protect their private interests in an increasingly decentralized and chaotic Ottoman Empire. The Janissary corps were distinctive in

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8246-548: The Piri Pasha Mosque in Hasköy . He must have visited both mosques during his Persian campaign. Sinan built a mosque with a central dome, this time with four equal half-domes. This superstructure is supported by four massive, but still elegant, free-standing octagonal fluted piers and four piers incorporated in each lateral wall. In the corners, above roof level, four turrets serve as stabilizing anchors. This coherent concept already

8379-495: The Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius ), since he too was concerned in building the ideal church, reflecting harmony through the perfection of geometry in architecture. But, contrary to his Western counterparts, Sinan was more interested in simplification than in enrichment. He tried to achieve the largest volume under a single central dome. The dome is based on the circle, the perfect geometrical figure representing, in an abstract way,

8512-513: The Rüstem Pasha Mosque in Tekirdağ . The inner portico traditionally have stalactite capitals while the outer portico has capitals with chevron patterns ( baklava ). When sultan Suleiman the Magnificent returned from another Balkan campaign, he received news that his son Şehzade Mehmed had died at the age of twenty-two. In November 1543, not long after Sinan had started the construction of

8645-406: The Sultan and they were regarded as the protectors of the throne and the Sultan. Janissaries were taught to consider the corps their home and family, and the Sultan as their father. Only those who proved strong enough earned the rank of true Janissary at the age of 24 or 25. The Odjak inherited the property of dead Janissaries, thus acquiring wealth. Janissaries also learned to follow the dictates of

8778-695: The Sultan died, this project ended. Two years later he witnessed the conquest of Belgrade . Under the new sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent , he was present, as a member of the Household Cavalry, at the Battle of Mohács . He was promoted to captain of the Royal Guard and then given command of the Infantry Cadet Corps. He was later stationed in Austria, where he commanded the 62nd Orta of the Rifle Corps. He became

8911-716: The Sultan. This event is now called the Auspicious Incident . The last of the Janissaries were then put to death by decapitation in what was later called the Tower of Blood , in Thessaloniki . After the Janissaries were disbanded by Mahmud II, he then created a new army soon after recruiting 12,000 troops. This new army was formally named the Trained Victorious Soldiers of Muhammad, the Mansure Army for short. By 1830,

9044-634: The Taṣ Han at Erzurum . He designed a caravanserai in Eregli and an octagonal madrasah in Constantinople. Between 1553 and 1555, Sinan built the Sinan Pasha Mosque at Beşiktaş , a smaller version of the Üç Şerefeli Mosque at Edirne , for the Grand Admiral Sinan Pasha . This proves again that Sinan had thoroughly studied the work of other architects, especially since he was responsible for

9177-424: The Topkapi court received a pay raise as well). Sultan Selim II gave Janissaries permission to marry in 1566, undermining the exclusivity of loyalty to the dynasty. By 1622, the Janissaries were a "serious threat" to the stability of the Empire. Through their "greed and indiscipline", they were now a law unto themselves and, against modern European armies, ineffective on the battlefield as a fighting force. In 1622,

9310-431: The West. The corps was abolished by Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident , in which 6,000 or more were executed. The Janissary force was formed in the fourteenth century, either during the rule of Murad I ( r.  1362–1389 ), the third sultan of the Ottoman Empire , or during the time of Murad's father, Sultan Orhan ( r.   c.  1324  – 1362 ). The Ottoman Turks instituted

9443-522: The admiral is not buried there, but in his türbe next to the Iskele mosque. This mausoleum has been severely neglected since then. Mihrimah Sultan , the only daughter of Suleiman and Hurrem and wife of the Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha gave Sinan the commission to build a mosque with medrese (college), an imaret (soup kitchen) and a sibyan mekteb (Qur'an school) in Üsküdar . The imaret no longer exists. This Iskele Mosque (or Jetty mosque) already shows several hallmarks of Sinan's mature style:

9576-467: The age of 70, he had completed the Süleymaniye Mosque complex. This building, situated on one of the hills of Istanbul facing the Golden Horn, and built in the name of Süleyman the Magnificent, is one of the symbolic monuments of the period. The diameter of the dome, which exceeds the 31 m (102 ft) of the Selimiye Mosque which Sinan completed when he was 80, is the most outstanding example of

9709-648: The age of fifty, he was appointed as chief royal architect, applying the technical skills he had acquired in the army to the "creation of fine religious buildings" and civic structures of all kinds. He remained in this post for almost fifty years. His masterpiece is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne , although his most famous work is the Suleiman Mosque in Istanbul . He headed an extensive governmental department and trained many assistants who, in turn, distinguished themselves; these include Sedefkar Mehmed Agha , architect of

9842-565: The areas and bringing the native people there civilization. In 1932 it released a four-volume history text for all secondary schools in Turkey upon request of the Ministry of Education. The text claimed that the ancient Turks have already had the ideas of nationality and the Turkish race. The institute releases a regular bulletin called Belleten . The institution's first president was Tevfik Bıyıklıoğlu . In July 2008 its president Yusuf Halaçoğlu

9975-413: The army at 40,000. Beginning in the 1530s, the size of the Janissary corps began to dramatically expand, a result of the rapid conquests the Ottomans were carrying out during those years. Janissaries were used extensively to garrison fortresses and for siege warfare, which was becoming increasingly important for the Ottoman military. The pace of expansion increased after the 1570s, due to the initiation of

10108-799: The army expanded to 27,000 troops and included the Sipahi cavalry. By 1838, all Ottoman fighting corps were included and the army changed its name to the Ordered troops. This military corps lasted until the end of the empire's history. The military music of the Janissaries was noted for its powerful percussion and shrill winds combining kös (giant timpani ), davul (bass drum), zurna (a loud shawm ), naffir , or boru (natural trumpet), çevgan bells , triangle (a borrowing from Europe), and cymbals ( zil ), among others. Janissary music influenced European classical musicians such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven , both of whom composed music in

10241-479: The barracks dressed as a janissary trooper, and received his pay alongside the other men of the First Division. They also served as policemen, palace guards, and firefighters during peacetime. The Janissaries also enjoyed far better support on campaign than other armies of the time. They were part of a well-organized military machine, in which one support corps prepared the roads while others pitched tents and baked

10374-436: The bread. Their weapons and ammunition were transported and re-supplied by the cebeci corps. They campaigned with their own medical teams of Muslim and Jewish surgeons and their sick and wounded were evacuated to dedicated mobile hospitals set up behind the lines. These differences, along with an impressive war-record, made the Janissaries a subject of interest and study by foreigners during their own time. Although eventually

10507-470: The centre of the army against enemy attack during the strategic fake forfeit of Turkish cavalry. The Janissary corps also included smaller expert teams: explosive experts, engineers and technicians, sharpshooters (with arrow and rifle) and sappers who dug tunnels under fortresses, etc. As Janissaries became aware of their own importance, they began to desire a better life. By the early 17th century, Janissaries had such prestige and influence that they dominated

10640-524: The chief officials. He delegated to his assistants the construction of less important buildings in the provinces. Some of his works: Sinan died in AH  996 (1587–88 CE) and is buried in a tomb in Istanbul , a türbe of his own design, just to the north of the Süleymaniye Mosque , across a street named Mimar Sinan Caddesi in his honour. He was buried near the tombs of his greatest patrons: Sultan Süleyman I and Sultana Haseki Hürrem , Suleiman's wife. Above

10773-644: The concept of a modern army incorporated and surpassed most of the distinctions of the Janissaries and the corps was eventually dissolved, the image of the Janissary has remained as one of the symbols of the Ottomans in the western psyche. By the mid-18th century, they had taken up many trades and gained the right to marry and enroll their children in the corps and very few continued to live in the barracks. Many of them became administrators and scholars. Retired or discharged Janissaries received pensions, and their children were also looked after. The first Janissary units were formed from prisoners of war and slaves, probably as

10906-600: The corners at an angle of 45 degrees. Clearly, Sinan must have appreciated this form, since he repeated it later in mosques such as the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque at Kadırga and the Atik Valide Mosque at Üsküdar . In 1556, Sinan built the Haseki Hürrem Sultan Hamamı , replacing the antique Baths of Zeuxippus , which are still standing close to the Hagia Sophia . This would become one of

11039-624: The corps was organized and led by a commander, the ağa . The corps was divided into three sub-corps: In addition there were also 34 orta s of the ajemi (cadets). A semi-autonomous Janissary corps was permanently based in Algiers , called the Odjak of Algiers . Originally Janissaries could be promoted only through seniority and within their own orta . They could leave the unit only to assume command of another. Only Janissaries' own commanding officers could punish them. The rank names were based on positions in

11172-664: The customs and cultures of Ottoman society. After completing this period, acemi (new recruit) boys were gathered for training at the Enderun "acemi oğlan" school in the capital city. There, young cadets would be selected for their talents in different areas to train as engineers, artisans, riflemen, clerics, archers, artillery, and so forth. Janissaries trained under strict discipline with hard labour and in practically monastic conditions in acemi oğlan ("rookie" or "cadet") schools, where they were expected to remain celibate . Unlike other Muslims, they were expressly forbidden to wear beards, only

11305-525: The death of her husband, now wanted a mosque of her own. Sinan built the Mihrimah Mosque at Edirnekapı (Edirne Gate) for her on the highest of the seven hills of Constantinople. He raised the mosque on a vaulted platform, accentuating its hilltop site. There is some speculation concerning the dates; until recently this was supposed to be between 1540 and 1540, but now it is generally accepted to be between 1562 and 1565. Sinan, concerned with grandeur, built

11438-494: The early 16th century, the Janissaries were equipped with and were skilled with muskets . In particular, they used a massive "trench gun", firing an 80-millimetre (3.1 in) ball, which was "feared by their enemies". Janissaries also made extensive use of early grenades and hand cannons , such as the abus gun . Pistols were not initially popular, but they became so after the Cretan War (1645–1669) . The Ottoman Empire used Janissaries in all its major campaigns, including

11571-542: The first time, demanding higher wages, which they obtained. The stage was set for a decadent evolution, like that of the Streltsy of Tsar Peter 's Russia or that of the Praetorian Guard which proved the greatest threat to Roman emperors, rather than effective protection. After 1451, every new Sultan felt obligated to pay each Janissary a reward and raise his pay rank (although since early Ottoman times, every other member of

11704-576: The flow of supplies within the Ottoman Empire. He was also responsible for the design and construction of public works, such as roads, waterworks and bridges. Through the years he transformed his office into that of Architect of the Empire, an elaborate government department, with greater powers than his supervising minister. He became the head of a whole Corps of architects, training a team of assistants, deputies and pupils. His training as an army engineer gave Sinan an empirical approach to architecture rather than

11837-401: The government. They could mutiny, dictate policy, and hinder efforts to modernize the army structure. Additionally, the Janissaries found they could change Sultans as they wished through palace coups . New rules allowed them to own land and establish businesses. They would also limit the enlistment of new Janissaries to their own sons who did not have to go through the original training period in

11970-606: The interior with light. The style of this revolutionary building was as close to the Gothic style as Ottoman structure permits. In 1566 Sinan completed the Banya Bashi Mosque in Sofia , Bulgaria , currently the only functioning mosque in the city. His first mosque in Sofia was built in 1528; popularly known as Imaret Mosque or Black Mosque due to the dark colour of its building stone, it

12103-562: The iron-grilled prayer window of his tomb is an epitaph written in Ottoman Turkish by the poet Mustafa Sai. It gives the year of his death and records that Sinan built 400 masjids (small mosques), 80 Friday mosques and the Kanuni Sultan Suleiman bridge at Büyükçekmece . In the position of chief imperial architect he was succeeded by Davud Agha , one of the architects who had worked under him. In 1935, his remains were exhumed by

12236-446: The janissaries became a reactionary force that resisted all change within the Ottoman army. Steadily the Ottoman military power became outdated, but when the janissaries felt their privileges were being threatened, or outsiders wanted to modernize them, or they might be superseded by their cavalry rivals , they would rise in rebellion. By the time the janissaries were suppressed, it was too late for Ottoman military power to catch up with

12369-413: The kitchen staff or Sultan's royal hunters; 64th and 65th Orta 'Greyhound Keepers' comprised as the only Janissary cavalry, perhaps to emphasise that Janissaries were servants of the Sultan. Local Janissaries, stationed in a town or city for a long time, were known as yerliyyas . Even though the Janissaries were part of the royal army and personal guards of the sultan, the corps was not the main force of

12502-406: The largest dome in the world, leaving Hagia Sophia behind. In fact, the dome height from the ground level was lower and the diameter barely larger (0.5 meters, approximately 2 feet) than the millennium-older Hagia Sophia. However, measured from its base the dome of Selimiye is higher. Sinan was more than 80 years old when the building was finished. In this mosque he finally realized his aim of creating

12635-415: The lateral galleries far away, he increased the three-dimensional effect. The many windows in the screen walls flood the interior with light. The buttressing semi-domes are set in the four corners of the square under the dome. The weight and the internal tensions are hidden, producing an airy and elegant effect rarely seen under a central dome. The four minarets (83 m high) at the corners of the prayer hall are

12768-462: The level of achievement reached by Sinan. Mimar Sinan reached his artistic peak with the design, architecture, tile decorations and land stone workmanship displayed at Selimiye. Another area of architecture where Sinan produced unique designs are his mausoleums. The Mausoleum of Şehzade Mehmed is notable for with its exterior decorations and sliced dome. The Rüstem Paşa mausoleum is a very attractive structure in classical style. The mausoleum of Süleyman

12901-461: The library of Topkapı Palace , dictated by Sinan to his friend and biographer Mustafa Sâi Çelebi. In these manuscripts, Sinan divulges some details of his youth and military career. His father is referred to as "Abdülmennan" (literally " Servant of the Generous and Merciful One "), a title which was commonly used in the Ottoman period to define the non-Muslim father of a Muslim convert. In 1512, Sinan

13034-574: The most beautiful hamams he ever constructed. In 1559, he built the Cafer Ağa madrasah below the forecourt of the Hagia Sophia. In the same year he began the construction of a small mosque for Iskender Pasha at Kanlıca , beside the Bosphorus. This was one of the many minor and routine commissions the office of Sinan received over the years. In 1561, when Rüstem Pasha died, Sinan began the construction of

13167-554: The notorious Seven Towers : he was murdered shortly afterward. The extravagant parties of the Ottoman ruling classes during the Tulip Period caused a lot of unrest among the Ottoman population. In September 1730, janissaries headed by Patrona Halil backed in Istanbul a rebellion by 12,000 Albanian troops which caused the abdication of Sultan Ahmed III and the death of the Grand Vizier Damad Ibrahim . The rebellion

13300-796: The opening of the Suleymaniye Mosque), 50 lira 1988 (400th anniversary of Sinan's death) and a set of 4 issued on 14 November 2007 (60, 70, 70 & 80 Kurus - Sinan and his works). Sinan is portrayed in Elif Shafak 's 2013 novel The Architect's Apprentice , with the fictional main character becoming his apprentice. Sinan, also called Mimar Sinan ("Architect Sinan") or Mimar Koca Sinan ("Great Architect Sinan") (born c. 1490, Ağırnaz, Turkey—died July 17, 1588, Constantinople [now Istanbul]), Janissary A janissary ( Ottoman Turkish : یڭیچری , romanized :  yeŋiçeri , [je.ˈŋi.t͡ʃe.ɾ̞i] , lit.   ' new soldier ' )

13433-412: The optimum, completely unified, domed interior: a triumph of space that dominates the interior. He used this time an octagonal central dome (31.28 m wide and 42 m high), supported by eight elephantine piers of marble and granite. These supports lack any capitals but have squinches or consoles at their summit, leading to the optical effect that the arches seem to grow integrally out of the piers. By placing

13566-606: The others, to be built on a gently sloping hillside dominating the Golden Horn . Money was no problem, since he had accumulated a treasure from the loot of his campaigns in Europe and the Middle East. He gave the order to Sinan to build a mosque, the Süleymaniye , surrounded by a külliye consisting of four colleges, a soup kitchen, a hospital, an asylum, a hamam , a caravanserai and a hospice for travellers ( tabhane ). Sinan, now heading

13699-541: The plans and gave instructions for many other constructions. Sinan built a mosque for the Grand Vizier Pargalı İbrahim Pasha and a mausoleum ( türbe ) at Silivrikapı (Constantinople) in 1551. The next Grand Vizier, Rüstem Pasha gave Sinan several more commissions. In 1550 he built a large inn ( han ) in the Galata district of Istanbul. About ten years later he built another han in Edirne , and between 1544 and 1561

13832-457: The position of chief architect of the palace, which meant being the overseer of all construction work of the Ottoman Empire, for nearly 50 years, working with a large team of assistants consisting of architects and master builders. The development and maturing stages of Sinan's career can be illustrated by three major works. The first two of these are in Istanbul: the Şehzade Mosque , which he calls

13965-588: The previous 300 years. According to paintings of the era, they were also permitted to grow beards. Consequently, the formerly strict rules of succession became open to interpretation. While they advanced their own power, the Janissaries also helped to keep the system from changing in other progressive ways, and according to some scholars the corps shared responsibility for the political stagnation of Istanbul. Greek historian Dimitri Kitsikis in his book Türk Yunan İmparatorluğu ("Turco-Greek Empire") states that many Bosnian Christian families were willing to comply with

14098-599: The public interest. On 11 August 1983, it was elevated to a constitutionally protected institution under the Atatürk High Institution of Culture, Language and History ( Atatürk Kültür, Dil ve Tarih Yüksek Kurumu, AKDTYK ) . According to Turkish historian Doğan Gürpınar , by the 2000s the THA's "main function became the production and reproduction of the official line to counter Armenian allegations , in addition to publishing numerous monographs on Turkish history following

14231-405: The resolution of the tensions created by the design. He was an innovator in the use of decoration and motifs, merging them into the architectural forms as a whole. He accentuated the centre underneath the central dome by flooding it with light from the many windows. He incorporated his mosques in an efficient way into a complex ( külliye ), serving the needs of the community as an intellectual centre,

14364-404: The rest of his design, transforming the circle of the dome into a rectangular, hexagonal or octagonal system. He tried to obtain a rational harmony between the exterior pyramidal composition of semi-domes, culminating in a single drumless dome, and the interior space where this central dome vertically integrates the space into a unified whole. His genius lies in the organization of this space and in

14497-448: The ruling classes of the Ottoman Empire, rivalling the Turkish aristocracy. The brightest of the Janissaries were sent to the palace institution, Enderun . Through a system of meritocracy , the Janissaries held enormous power, stopping all efforts to reform the military. According to military historian Michael Antonucci and economic historians Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane, the Turkish administrators would scour their regions (but especially

14630-464: The same way as with the Ottoman's Janissaries who had to replace the unreliable ghazis . They were initially created as a counterbalance to the tribal, ethnic and favoured interests the Qizilbash gave, which make a system imbalanced. In the late 16th century, a sultan gave in to the pressures of the Corps and permitted Janissary children to become members of the Corps, a practice strictly forbidden for

14763-424: The soldiers faithful to the sultan. The social status of devşirme recruits took on an immediate positive change, acquiring a greater guarantee of governmental rights and financial opportunities. In poor areas officials were bribed by parents to make them take their sons, thus they would have better chances in life. Initially the recruiters favoured Greeks and Albanians . As borders of the Ottoman Empire expanded,

14896-404: The system from changing in other progressive ways. Even after the rapid expansion of the size of the corps at the end of the sixteenth century, the Janissaries continued to undergo strict training and discipline. The Janissaries experimented with new forms of battlefield tactics, and in 1605 became one of the first armies in Europe to implement rotating lines of volley fire in battle. The corps

15029-665: The tallest in the Muslim world, accentuating the vertical posture of this mosque that already dominates the city. He also designed the Sulaymaniyya Takiyya in Damascus , Syria, considered to have marked the introduction of the Ottoman architectural style to the city. He has also built Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge across the Drina River in Višegrad , Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is now

15162-462: The teenage Sultan Osman II , after a defeat during war against Poland, determined to curb Janissaries' excesses. Outraged at becoming "subject to his own slaves", he tried to disband the Janissary corps, blaming it for the disaster during the Polish war. In the spring, hearing rumours that the Sultan was preparing to move against them, the Janissaries revolted and took the Sultan captive, imprisoning him in

15295-410: The traditions by adding innovations, trying to approach perfection. During these years he continued the traditional pattern of Ottoman architecture, but he gradually began exploring other possibilities, because during his military career he had had the opportunity to study the architectural monuments in the conquered cities of Europe and the Middle East. His first opportunity to design a major building

15428-483: The unnecessary subsidiary spaces beyond the supporting piers of the central dome. This can be seen in the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque in Kadırga, Istanbul (1571–1572) and in the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. In other buildings of his final period, Sinan experimented with spatial and mural treatments that were new in the classical Ottoman architecture. According to him from his autobiography Tezkiretü'l-Bünyan , his masterpiece

15561-483: The upkeep of these buildings. He copied the old form, pondered over the weaknesses in the construction and tried to solve this with his own solution. In 1554, Sinan used the form of the Sinan Pasha mosque again for the construction of the mosque for the next Grand Vizier Kara Ahmet Pasha in Constantinople, his first hexagonal mosque. By using a hexagonal plan, Sinan could reduce the side domes to half-domes and set them in

15694-648: The voice of the official ideology". In 1930 the Committee for the study of Turkish History ( Türk Tarihi Tetkik Heyeti ) was established with the support of the Turkish Hearths . In 1931 the Association for the Study of Turkish History ( Türk Tarihi Tetkik Cemiyeti ) was founded, which in 1935 was renamed in Turkish Historical Society. in 1940, the Turkish Historical Society arose to an association working for

15827-536: The water supply system of Istanbul, he built arched aqueducts at several locations within the city. The Mağlova Arch over the Alibey River, which is 257 m (843 ft) long and 35 m (115 ft) high, has two tiers of arches, and is one of the best examples of its kind. At the start of Sinan's career, Ottoman architecture was highly pragmatic. Buildings were repetitions of former types and were based on rudimentary plans. They were more an assembly of parts than

15960-542: The wife of the sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent . He had to follow the plans drawn by his predecessors. Sinan retained the traditional arrangement of the available space without any innovations. Nevertheless, it was already better built than the Aleppo mosque and it shows a certain elegance. However, it has suffered from many restorations. Sinan is credited to have built a defensive tower in Vlorë , south Albania , in 1537, very similar to

16093-494: Was Cappadocian Greek because the only Orthodox Christians ( Rûms ) of the region were Greek-speaking. Sinan's place of birth, Ağırnas , was a Greek village with no Armenian inhabitants, which some scholars argue would give more credence to the theory of him being of Greek origin. Additionally, before the Greeks evacuated the village, a Cappadocian Greek family from the village named Taşçıoğlu ( Greek : Ταστσιόγλου) had claimed Sinan as

16226-530: Was Christian Turkish . In 1935, a council commissioned by the Turkish Historical Society went so far as to open up Sinan's tomb and measure his skull so as demonstrate his Turkish "racial" heritage. Sinan grew up helping his father in his work, and by the time that he was conscripted would have had a good grounding in the practicalities of building work. There are three brief records (Anonymous Text; Architectural Masterpieces; Book of Architecture) in

16359-425: Was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan 's household troops. They were the first modern standing army , and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms , adopted during the reign of Murad II . The corps was established under either Sultans Orhan or Murad I , and dismantled by Mahmud II in 1826. Janissaries began as elite corps made up through

16492-583: Was conscripted into Ottoman service under the devshirme system. He was sent to Constantinople to be trained as an officer of the Janissary Corps and converted to Islam. He was too old to be admitted to the imperial Enderun School in the Topkapı Palace but was sent instead to an auxiliary school. Some records claim that he might have served the Grand Vizier Pargalı İbrahim Pasha as a novice of

16625-603: Was crushed in three weeks with the massacre of 7,000 rebels, but it marked the end of the Tulip Era and the beginning of Sultan Mahmud I 's reign. In 1804, the Dahias, the Janissary junta that ruled Serbia at the time, having taken power in the 'l Sanjak of Smederevo in defiance of the Sultan, feared that the Sultan would make use of the Serbs to oust them. To forestall this they decided to execute all prominent nobles throughout Central Serbia,

16758-463: Was damaged by an earthquake and abandoned in the 19th century. In the 1560s he built the Kirkcesme water supply system for Istanbul. It is seen as a masterpiece of his work. It spans 55 km and includes 35 aqueduct bridges , 4 of which are notable for their height (up to 35m) as well as their length (up to 700m). Between 1560 and 1566 Sinan built a mosque in Constantinople for Zal Mahmud Pasha on

16891-551: Was dismissed. It was speculated that the decision reflected the government's desire for rapprochement with Armenia . Shortly before the decision, foreign minister Ali Babacan greeted Armen Martirosyan , Armenia's ambassador to the United Nations , in a reception related to Turkey's temporary accession the UN Security Council . Before that, president Serzh Sargsyan had invited his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gül , to

17024-520: Was given the title Haseki'i , Sergeant-at-Arms in the body guard of the Sultan, a rank equivalent to that of the Janissary Ağa. When Chelebi Lütfi Pasha became Grand Vizier in 1539, he appointed Sinan, who had previously served under his command, to the office of Architect of the Abode of Felicity. This was the start of a remarkable career. The job entailed the supervision infrastructure construction and

17157-425: Was not enough to produce the necessary manpower, and consequently the traditional limitation of recruitment to boys conscripted in the devşirme was lifted. Membership was opened up to free-born Muslims, both recruits hand-picked by the commander of the Janissaries, as well as the sons of current members of the Ottoman standing army. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the devşirme had largely been abandoned as

17290-464: Was organized into ortas (literally, "centers"). An orta (equivalent to a battalion ) was headed by a çorbaci . All orta s together comprised the Janissary corps proper and its organization, named ocak (literally, "hearth"). Suleiman I had 165 orta s and the number increased over time to 196. While the Sultan was the supreme commander of the Ottoman Army and of the Janissaries in particular,

17423-573: Was promoted to chief architect and was given the privilege of tearing down any buildings in the captured city that were not according to the city plan. During the campaign in the East, he assisted in the building of defences and bridges, such as a bridge across the Danube . He converted churches into mosques. During the Persian campaign in 1535 he built ships for the army and the artillery to cross Lake Van . For this he

17556-413: Was relaxed. Civilians bought their way into it in order to benefit from the improved socio-economic status it conferred upon them. Consequently, the corps gradually lost its military character, undergoing a process that has been described as "civilianization". The janissaries were a formidable military unit in the early centuries, but as Western Europe modernized its military organization and technology,

17689-592: Was the Hüsrev Pasha Mosque and its double medresse in Aleppo , Syria. It was built in the winter of 1536-1537 for his commander-in-chief and the governor of Aleppo between two army campaigns. It was built hastily and this is evident in the coarseness of execution and the crude decoration. His first major commission as the royal architect was the construction of the Haseki Sultan Complex for Hurrem Sultan ,

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