The Suleymaniye is one of the finest and most magnificent imperial
mosque complexes in the city. Suleymaniye
Mosque crowns the third hill of the old city and adds a great deal to
the unrivalled beauty of the city's skyline.
Suleyman was the tenth sultan of the Ottoman dynasty .
After thirty years of rule, Suleyman The
Magnificent decided to have a mosque built and Sinan, the greatest of Ottoman
architects, was commissioned.
Sınan was born ın
Kayserı ın 1489. After his schooling in Istanbul he
served in the army, He was promoted to the position of the head architect
by Suleymaniye in 1539. Until his death in 1588 he built 334 edifices.
among them were 132 mosques, 26 libraries, 17 hospitals, 33 palaces, 7
aqueducts and many tombs and fountains.
The
construction of the Suleymaniye began in 1550 and the mosque was completed
in 1557.The generous sultan gave the honor of opening the Suleymaniye to
his architect Sinan, the creator of the finest mosque in Istanbul.
The mosque stands in the center of
the courtyard surrounded on three sides by a wall with grilled windows.
There are
24 marble and granite columns which carry
the weight of 28 domes. In the four corners of this courtyard there are
four minarets rising with ten balconies. The interior is approximately 58.5 by 57.5 meters.
The dome, with a height of 47 meters and diameter of 26.5 meters, joined
to the central dome in the east and the west where two semi domes
are supported by smaller domes. It can be said that Sinan rarely succeeded
with the interior of his west walls. In almost every case there is a
tendency to squeeze the portal.
Suleymaniye suprises
visitors with its solid architecture
and modest decorations with
the exception of magnificent stainglass windows, made by master
Ibrahim. Fine 16th century Iznik tiles decorate the mihrap area of the
mosque.
The tombs of Suleyman the Magnificent
and his wife Roxalena are in the cemetery of the mosque. All these parts
of the Suleymaniye mosque are surrounded by a wall with a number of grated
windows,