Suleymaniye Mosque and Complex

The Suleymaniye Complex, consisting of a large number of courtyards and a caravansarai, was constructed starting on June 13, 1550 through October 15, 1557 by Architect Sinan (the grand old master of Ottoman architecture). A total of 3,523 workers were employed during the construction of the complex. There were 1,713 Muslim employees. According to the historian Peçevi, a grand total of 96.360 filoris (gold coins) and 82.900 akçe (silver coins) was spent during the construction of the complex. Stones and columns of the complex were brought from different regions of the Ottoman Empire: Bozcaada, İzmit, Mut, Ezine, Gazze Lebanon, etc. In addition, other building materials were brought from different regions of the Ottoman Empire to be used in the complex. The Süleymaniye Complex is composed of 15 sections: 1-Mosque 2-Rabi Madrasah (High School) 3-Salis Madrasah (Intermediate School) 4-Evvel Madrasah (Elementary School) 5-Sani Madrasah (Seconday School) 6-Tıp Madrasah (Medical School) 7-The Tomb of Suleiman the Magnificent 8-The Tomb of the Hürrem Sultan (Roxelana, wife of the Suleiman the Magnificent ) 9-Türbedar (caretaker) Room 10-Bimarhane (hospital) 11-Darüzziyafe (Restaurant, previously a soup kitchen in the 16th century) 12-Darülhadis Madrasah (school of traditions of the Prophet) 13-Tabhane (the hostel attached to a mosque where travellers usually dervishes and mystics) could live free for three days) 14-The Tomb of the Architect Sinan 15-Bathhouse The Mosque The most charming section of the Süleymaniye Complex is naturally the mosque itself. It is similar to the other works of the architect Sinan in that he refused to make concessions away from simplicity, but converted simplicty into glory.  The decoration and ornamentation in the mosque are primarily inscriptions, and the architectural geometry is recocognized as an aesthetic wonder unto itself. Windows with stained glass on the wall of the mihrab (niche in a mosque wall indicating the direction of Mecca) and frames on both sides of the mihrab are works of a master named Sarhoş Ibrahim. There is a huge dome in the mosque, having a diameter of 26.5 meters; it was constructed on four large rose-coloured columns. The depth of the dome is double the diameter of the dome and is 53 meters high. In order for the dome to be built easily, special bricks were manufactured and used in the construction of the dome. In addition, stones of the mosque are attached one another by fasteners of internal iron clamps, and then melted lead is poured over the iron clamps.  The mosque was lighted with 128 windows and a great number of candles. In order to prevent the pollution of the walls with soot that came from the candles a soot room was constructed above main entrance. Ink was produced from the collected soot. It has four minarets rising at the four corners of the inner court which are constructed from white marble called “Beyaz Harem” (White Harem). Two of them have three shrefes (minaret balcony) each and the other two have two shrefes for a total of ten. The four minarets of the Mosque symbolize Suleiman the Magnificient becoming the fourth Sultan of the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Istanbul. The ten shrefes symbolize his becoming the 10th sultan in Ottoman history. In addition, there is a fountain in the middle of the inner court consisting of a rectangular-shaped pool with two fountains with a decorative plant motif. Other Buildings The central buildings adjacent to the mosque are considered to be part of the mosque.   The other buildings in the complex are arranged around this central area. There are six madrasahs of the complex with the Medical School. Those madrasahs toward the direction of Bayezit are Evvel Madrasah (Elementary School) and Sani Madrasah (Secondary School) which are used as the Suleymaniye Library. A part of the medical school located alongside of these two madrasahs collapsed during the road opening work and the rest of it was turned into a hospital. The building located on the right side of the Medical School and the crossband of the coutryard of the mosque was used as an insane asylum during the Ottoman Empire era. Darüzziyafe (Restaurant, previously a soup kitchen in the 16th century), tabhane (the hostel attached to a mosque where travelers (usually dervishes and mystics) could live free for three days) are located on the road toward the northwest part of the complex and over against the courtyard. Turning right at the end of this road, there is an outstanding and modest, triangular-shaped tomb belonging to the Architect Sinan. Salis Madrasahs (Intermediate School) and Rabi Madrasahs ((High School) are located 100 meters ahead of the wall of the mosque and is fairly high on the road. Külliye Hamamı (Bathhouse) is located on the cross road of the right hand side of the Rabi Madrasah ((High School). Darulhadith Madrasah (school of traditions of the Prophet) is located a little forward on the road. There are two tombs in the complex, one of them belonging to Suleiman the Magnificient, and the other one belonging to Hürrem Sultan (Roxelana, a Russian slave girl). They were constructed on an octagonal plan with a dome. Ceramic tiles with decorative plant motif are used in the tombs and have artistic value. Other notable people of that period were buried in the graveyard of the complex. An Ingenious Ink The Suleymaniye Mosque was originally heated with hundreds of oil lamps. In normal conditions, the soot rising from these many oil lamps would form a layer of soot. Yet, Sinan solved this problem, again in an ingenious way. He collected the soot in a room by producing an airflow. He extracted a kind of ink ink from the soot by mixing it with botanical fluids. And most of the manuscripts in Suleymaniye Library today were writ­ten with this uniquely extracted ink. Jewelry Minaret (Cevahir Minaresi) The construction process of the Suleymaniye Kulliya was halted temporarily in order to wait for the base to settle. The Iranian Shah made an incorrect assumption regarding the reason for this pause and sent jewelers to Suleyman the Lawgiver to "contribute to the construction process of the mosque." Sultan Saleyman reacted harshly to the Shah's diplomatic tactlessness by asking his men to squeeze the precious stones sent by the Shah and to mix them with chippings used in the construction of the mosque. Sinan put these jewels into the mortar of' a minaret. Later, this minaret was called "the Cevahir Minaresi" (Jewelry Minaret in Turkish) due to the diamonds of the minaret that shone with the sunlight of the Golden Horn. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While walking by, Mimar Sinan saw some children looking at a Minaret and talking. Wondering what they were saying, he went close by and asked them what they were talking about. One of the boys told him that that the minaret wasn’t standing straight up, that it was crooked. “Okay I can see that,” said Mimar Sinan. Then he called his workers who took down the minaret with a rope. “Is it ok now,” he asked the boys. The children replied, “Yes it is ok now.” Then his workers asked why did he have to listen to the children. He told them that if he didn’t listen to the children they will go and start telling everyone that the minaret isn’t standing straight up. You can follow us from Facebook too.. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Magic-City-Istanbul/662051330490234