Ottoman architecture: how to identify it

what it is

Ottoman architecture is the building tradition of the Ottoman Empire, best known for its mosques. A classical Ottoman mosque has a large central dome supported by half-domes that step down around it, with smaller domes and buttresses below. Slender, pencil-shaped minarets, the towers used for the call to prayer, stand at the corners, and an arcaded courtyard with a fountain for ritual washing lies in front of the prayer hall. Many mosques anchor a kulliye, a complex that can include schools, a hospital, a public kitchen, baths and the founder's tomb. Rows of windows light the interiors, which are often lined with Iznik tiles, glazed ceramics painted with tulips, carnations and other flowers.

Examples include the Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul (1550-1557), the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne (1568-1574), whose dome is about 31 meters across, slightly wider than Hagia Sophia's, and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul (1609-1617), called the Blue Mosque for its tiles. The interior of the Rustem Pasha Mosque in Istanbul (1561) is covered in Iznik tiles.

how to spot one

Dome A rounded roof shaped as half a sphere, often raised on a drum (a circular wall). Domes cover large central spaces on Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, Renaissance and Neoclassical buildings. Minaret A tall, slender tower attached to or near a mosque, usually with one or more balconies near the top. It is where the call to prayer, the adhan, was traditionally made. Arcade A row of arches carried on columns or piers (thick square supports), often forming a covered walkway along a building. Arcades are common on Roman, Romanesque, Renaissance and Spanish Colonial buildings.

Also look for

Courtyard Geometric ornament Stained glass

history

Ottoman building began in northwest Anatolia in the late 13th century. Orhan captured Bursa in 1326 and Iznik in 1331, and both cities became centers of Ottoman building. The Haci Ozbek Mosque in Iznik (1333) is the oldest Ottoman mosque with a documented construction date, and the Grand Mosque of Bursa (1396-1400) covers its prayer hall with many small domes. After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the domed Byzantine church of Hagia Sophia became a model for Ottoman mosque design. The classical period belongs to Mimar Sinan, chief court architect from about 1539 until his death in 1588, who is credited with more than 300 buildings.

Sinan's student Sedefkar Mehmed Agha designed the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. During the Tulip Period (1718-1730), builders borrowed from French palaces, and from the 1740s an Ottoman Baroque style appeared, as at the Nuruosmaniye Mosque (1748-1755). In the 19th century the Balyan family of Ottoman Armenian architects built European-style palaces such as Dolmabahce (1842-1856). After 1908, the First National Architectural Movement, led by Mimar Kemaleddin and Vedat Tek, revived classical Ottoman forms in buildings such as Istanbul's Grand Post Office (1909).

where to find it

Istanbul's skyline, especially the Blue Mosque and the Suleymaniye, plus the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne and Ottoman monuments across the Balkans and Middle East.

easy to confuse with

Byzantine A central dome floating over a square room, round arches, plain brick outside, gold mosaics inside.

Dome of the Rock, an example of Islamic Medieval

Islamic Medieval Domes and minarets over courtyards, pointed and horseshoe arches, and dense geometric and calligraphic ornament.