Person1588

Mimar Sinan

Also called: Sinan, Koca Mi’mâr Sinân Âğâ

Chief court architect of the Ottoman Empire (c. 1490–1588), who built the Süleymaniye and Selimiye mosques among hundreds of buildings

Born into a Christian family at Ağırnas near Kayseri, he was taken in the devshirme levy and converted to Islam. Serving as a janissary on campaign, he made his name as a military engineer building bridges and boats. Around 1539 he became chief court architect and over nearly fifty years built more than three hundred mosques, schools, bridges and baths. He named the Selimiye Mosque at Edirne (finished 1575) his masterpiece, and he lies in a tomb of his own design beside the Süleymaniye Mosque.

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1 related event

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1520 – 1566Suleiman I and the Ottoman Golden Agerelated figure
Under Suleiman I the Ottoman Empire became a great empire spanning three continents. Called “the Lawgiver” for his codification of the laws, he held many peoples together by granting religious communities self-government.

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Suleiman I1494 – 1566
Ottoman sultan (r. 1520–1566) who crushed Hungary, besieged Vienna and dominated the Mediterranean at the height of the empire; known as “the Lawgiver”

Themes this person appears in

Islamic Empires and the Atlantic World1500 – 1800
Three centuries in which the Ottomans of Suleiman I, the Mughals of Akbar and the Safavids of Abbas I flourished and then faltered, while across the Atlantic the slave trade and colonies transformed the Americas, leading to American independence