Mimar Sinan

Mimar Sinan, the "Great Architect Sinan", was born in Anatolia in a small town called Agırnas near the city of Kayseri, Turkey in 1489. He was conscripted as a soldier into the Ottoman royal house by the Devsirme System in 1512. After he completed his primary education as a cadet, he joined Belgrade(1521), Rhodes(1522), Mohacs(1526), Germany(1529), Iraq(1534), Corfu and Apulia(1537), Moldovia(1538) campaigns. During all these campaigns, he found an opportunity to identify many structures and he proved that he is able to be trained as an engineer and architecht. In 1538, he became the head of a whole Crops of Court Architects (Hassa Mimarlar Ocağı) and Sinan's career continiued during fifty years. Sinan died in Istanbul, Turkey in 1588.

The development and maturing stages of Sinan's career can be illustrated by three major works. The first two of these are in Istanbul: the Şehzade Mosque, which he calls a work of his apprenticeship period and Süleymaniye Mosque, which is the work of his qualification stage. The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne is the product of his master stage.

Various sources state that Sinan was the architect of around 360 structures which included 84 mosques, 51 small mosques ("mescit"), 57 schools of theology ("medrese"), 7 schools for Koran reciters ("darülkurra"), 22 mausoleums ("türbe"), 17 Alm Houses ("imaret"), 3 hospitals ("darüssifa"), 7 aquaducts and arches, 48 inns ("Caravansarai"), 35 palaces and mansions, 8 vaults and 46 baths. Sinan, who held the position of chief architect of the palace, which meant being the top manager of construction works of the Ottoman Empire, for nearly 50 years, worked with a large team of assistants consisting of architects and master builders.