Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque Kadirga plan Gurlitt 1912

Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque Kadirga section Gurlitt 1912

Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque () is a 16th-century Ottoman

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

in the Kadırga neighborhood in

Fatih Fatih () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 15 km2, and its population is 368,227 (2022). It is home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the mayor's office, police headquarters, metro ...

district,

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey. It was commissioned jointly by the

grand vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (; ; ; 1505 – 11 October 1579) was an Ottoman statesman of Serb origin most notable for being the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. Born in Ottoman Herzegovina into an Orthodox Christian family, Mehmed was recruited a ...

and his wife İsmihan Sultan. It was designed by the imperial architect

Mimar Sinan Mimar Sinan (; , ; – 17 July 1588) also known as Koca Mi'mâr Sinân Âğâ, ("Sinan Agha (title), Agha the Grand Architect" or "Grand Sinan") was the chief Ottoman Empire, Ottoman architect, engineer and mathematician for sultans Suleiman ...

and completed in 1571/2. The mosque is noted for the fine quality of the

Iznik tiles Iznik pottery, or Iznik ware, named after the town of İznik in Anatolia where it was made, is a decorated ceramic that was produced from the last quarter of the 15th century until the end of the 17th century. Turkish stylization is a reflection ...

that decorate the interior walls.

History

The mosque was designed by Ottoman imperial architect

for the

and his wife İsmihan Sultan, a daughter of

Selim II Selim II (; ; 28 May 1524 – 15 December 1574), also known as Selim the Blond () or Selim the Drunkard (), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574. He was a son of Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Hurrem Sul ...

and one of the granddaughters of Sultan

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

. According to the foundation inscription in Turkish above the north entrance to the courtyard, the building was completed in AH 979 (1571/72 CE). Although İsmihan Sultan and her husband jointly endowed the mosque, only Sokollu Mehmed Pasha is listed on the foundation inscription.

Architecture

Exterior

The mosque is noted for its architecturally challenging location on a steep slope. Sinan resolved this issue by fronting the mosque with a two-storey courtyard. The bottom storey was divided into shops, whose rents were intended to help support the upkeep of the mosque. The upper storey with an open colonnaded courtyard had the spaces between the columns on three sides walled off to form small rooms, each with a small window, fireplace and niche to store bedding, forming the living accommodations for a

madrasah Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary education or higher learning ...

. The fourth side of the courtyard is the mosque itself, which is designed as a hexagon inscribed in a rectangle, topped by a dome with four small semi-domes in the corners. The dome is in diameter and high. The ablution fountain in the courtyard has twelve columns supporting an onion shaped dome. The single minaret is placed at the northeast corner of the mosque.

Interior

The interior of the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque is famous for the

İznik tiles Iznik pottery, or Iznik ware, named after the town of İznik in Anatolia where it was made, is a decorated ceramic that was produced from the last quarter of the 15th century until the end of the 17th century. Turkish stylization is a reflectio ...

, decorated with a wide variety of blue, red and green floral designs, with panels of

calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...

in white ''

thuluth ''Thuluth'' (, ' or , '; , ''Sols''; Turkish: ''Sülüs'', from ' "one-third") is an Arabic script variety of Islamic calligraphy. The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new script by curved and oblique lines. In ''Thuluth'', ...

'' letters on a blue ground. The interior columns make use of polychrome

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

. The ''

minbar A minbar (; sometimes romanized as ''mimber'') is a pulpit in a mosque where the imam (leader of prayers) stands to deliver sermons (, ''khutbah''). It is also used in other similar contexts, such as in a Hussainiya where the speaker sits and le ...

'' is made of white marble with a conical cap, sheathed in Iznik tiles. The windows above the ''mihrab'' have stained glass. Above the main entrance, framed by a gilded brass bezel, is a fragment of the

Kaaba The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

; other fragments of this black stone are above the ''minbar'' and ''mihrab''. As well as the tilework, parts of the mosque were originally painted. Most of the paintwork has been renovated but some of the original paintwork survives above the vestibule of the north entrance, on the brackets supporting the balcony above the entrance, and under the ceilings of the side galleries.

Gallery

File:Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque 7346.jpg, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque front File:Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque 7342.jpg, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque courtyard File:Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque 5722.jpg, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque courtyard File:Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque 7335.jpg, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque File:Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque 5710.jpg, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque mihrab and minber File:Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque 5716.jpg, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque mihrab and minber File:Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque 5719.jpg, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque mihrab and minber detail File:Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque 5715.jpg, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque calligraphic tiles File:Istanbul Sokollu Mosque 2002 399.jpg, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque calligraphic tiles File:Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque 5253.jpg, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque Iznik tiles File:Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque 5706.jpg, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque Iznik tiles File:Sokollu Mehmet Pasha mosque 5702.jpg, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque Iznik tiles

References

Sources

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External links

Sokullu Mehmet Paşa ve Ismihan Sultan Külliyesi (Kadırga)
ArchNet.

3dmekanlar.
Photographs of the Sokollu Mehmet Mosque by Dick Osseman
{{Authority control Religious buildings and structures completed in 1572 Mimar Sinan buildings Ottoman mosques in Istanbul 1572 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Fatih Mosques completed in the 1570s