Date

1986

Author

Erzen, Jale

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This paper has tried to account for facade transformations of Sinan's era, through the analysis of basic structural properties and facade elements of mosques. Mosques being the most socially significant edifices of the time, these transformations indicate the changing attitudes towards space, structure and meaning of buildings and the stylistic changes of Ottoman architecture at large, during the second half of the Sixteenth Century. A detailed analysis of the external influences that have brought about these changes have not been attempted at. However, one can generalize that the basic formation of Ottoman architecture relied on the fact that it developed in Anatolia, a cradle for many cultures. Although Mediterranean influences may be more obvious, one can trace the individual features of the Ottoman mosque back to many regional precedents. The specific developments during Sinan's time, and the gradual evolution from a pre—classical and classical style to an almost mannierist one, makes one think that this may also reflect the first conscious and obvious attempt at Westernization in Ottoman culture. And, in a sense, Sinan's formal inclinations show an understanding of western building concepts that is much more comprehensive than the merely decorative applications of western forms on buildings, during the Eighteenth Century, the period which is formally described as the era of Westernization. The changes Sinan executed within the interior space envisage a new approach to perspective and environmental effects, and his exterior compositions show that he began to regard his buildings and their details as parts of the greater urban order. The Sixteenth Century was almost internationally an era of cultural and aesthetic evolutions. Because of the evidences of new aesthetic, social and urban considerations in Sinan's late executions, we can conclude that in the latter part of the Sixteenth Century Ottoman architecture began to participate within a larger European cultural development. This trend that had begun with the conquest of Constantinople ended with the death of Sinan and so did the classic era of Ottoman architecture. This paper has tried to account for facade transformations of Sinan's era, through the analysis of basic structural properties and facade elements of mosques. Mosques being the most socially significant edifices of the time, these transformations indicate the changing attitudes towards space, structure and meaning of buildings and the stylistic changes of Ottoman architecture at large, during the second half of the Sixteenth Century. A detailed analysis of the external influences that have brought about these changes have not been attempted at. However, one can generalize that the basic formation of Ottoman architecture relied on the fact that it developed in Anatolia, a cradle for many cultures. Although Mediterranean influences may be more obvious, one can trace the individual features of the Ottoman mosque back to many regional precedents. The specific developments during Sinan's time, and the gradual evolution from a pre—classical and classical style to an almost mannierist one, makes one think that this may also reflect the first conscious and obvious attempt at Westernization in Ottoman culture. And, in a sense, Sinan's formal inclinations show an understanding of western building concepts that is much more comprehensive than the merely decorative applications of western forms on buildings, during the Eighteenth Century, the period which is formally described as the era of Westernization. The changes Sinan executed within the interior space envisage a new approach to perspective and environmental effects, and his exterior compositions show that he began to regard his buildings and their details as parts of the greater urban order. The Sixteenth Century was almost internationally an era of cultural and aesthetic evolutions. Because of the evidences of new aesthetic, social and urban considerations in Sinan's late executions, we can conclude that in the latter part of the Sixteenth Century Ottoman architecture began to participate within a larger European cultural development. This trend that had begun with the conquest of Constantinople ended with the death of Sinan and so did the classic era of Ottoman architecture

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http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/0258-5316/1986/cilt07/sayi_2/105-126.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/51200

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Department of Architecture, Article