Suleymaniye Mosque

The Suleymaniye Mosque is the largest masjid in

Istanbul and regarded as its most important. It

was built on the order of Sulayman the

Magnificent by the great architect Sinan, both are

buried within the complex. Construction work

began in 1550 CE and was finished in 1558 CE.

Like the city’s other imperial mosques, the

Suleymaniye mosque was not only a place of

worship, but also a charitable foundation, or

kulliye. The mosque is surrounded by its

former hospital, soup kitchen, schools,

caravanserai (resting place for travellers) and

bath house. This complex provided a welfare

system which fed over 1,000 of the city’s poor

– Muslims, Christians and Jews alike – every

day. The size of the millstone in its courtyard

gives an idea of the amount of grain that was

needed to feed everyone.

In the garden behind the main mosque there

are two mausoleums including the tombs of

Sultan Sulayman I, his wife Roxelana, his

daughter Mihrimah, his mother Dilaşub Saliha

and his sister Asiye. The sultans Sulayman II

and Ahmed II, are also buried here.

Just outside the mosque walls, to the north is

the tomb of Sinan, considered the greatest

architect of the classical period of Ottoman

architecture. Sinan died aged 98, having built

131 mosques and 200 other buildings. He was

born a Christian and later converted to Islam.

To the south of the mosque is a madressa

housing a library containing 110,000

manuscripts. The main courtyard entrance

contained the rooms of the mosque astronomer

who determined the times of prayer.

The Süleymaniye Mosque was ravaged by a

fire in 1660 and was restored by Sultan

Mehmed IV. Part of the dome collapsed again

during the earthquake of 1766. Subsequent

repairs damaged what was left of the original

decoration of Sinan (recent cleaning has

shown that Sinan experimented first with blue,

before turning red the dominant color of the

dome).

During World War I the courtyard was used as

a weapons depot, and when some of the

ammunition ignited, the mosque suffered

another fire. Not until 1956 was it fully

restored again.

Source : islamicLandmarks.com , Wikipedia

Elevation and plan published by Cornelius Gurlitt

in 1912

Exterior aerial shot of Süleymaniye Mosque, 1903.

Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival

Collection

Interior of the Süleymaniye.