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The Suleymaniye Mosque: Beyond Inspiration

© Alia F. Hasan

The Hagia Sophia church and the Suleymaniye mosque: a thousand years apart but tied together eternally. One representing the achievement of the Christian-Byzantine empire and the other representing the ability of the Islamic-Ottoman empire and its architect Sinan. Two empires that had very little in common other than their architecture and region. In earlier history the Dome of the Rock represented the Islamic empire's attempt to rival the newly defeated Byzantine empire and its architectural achievements such as the Holy Sepulchre. As history often repeats itself, with similar political motives the Suleymaniye mosque became the Ottoman's answer to the Byzantine's great achievement in their area - the Hagia Sophia. The result is that one finds in the Suleymaniye mosque the inspiration of the Hagia Sophia as well as the distinctive Islamic qualities that Sinan brought to it.

BACKGROUND: the Hagia Sophia, the Suleymaniye, and Sinan

By most accounts the Hagia Sophia was first built between 532 and 537 by Isodorus of Miletus and Anthemis of Tralles for the Emperor Justinian during the Byzantine Empire's control over the region and its capital Constantinopole.The present Hagia Sophia is the result of six building periods, the first two being the periods in which its basic structure was formed. A thousand years after the Hagia Sophia was first constructed, when Constantinopole became Istanbul and the Ottomans gained control, Sinan designed the Suleymaniye Complex for the Sultan Suleyman the Lawgiver. The socioreligious complex, called a kulliye, was built over seven years between 1550-57 with the mosque being the focus of the complex. Sinan, who created over 400 works in his own time, was the royal architect under Suleyman and as such was also in charge of the Hagia Sophia's restoration.

SIMILARITIES

Because Sinan worked on the Hagia Sophia he became intimately familiar with its form and structure so its not surprising that it had an influence on much of his work. Of all his buildings, conceptually the Suleymaniye is probably the most similar to the Hagia Sophia with the basic concept of the central domed space made larger with attached semidomed spaces which in turn have smaller spaces attached topped by smaller domes. Because the dome of the Hagia Sophia was considered to be a great feat for the Christians Sinan designed the dome of the Suleymaniye to send the message that not only were Muslims just as capable but, with an even larger and higher dome, that they were superior.