Suleymaniye Mosque

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Effect of the third city hill with Süleymaniye (right) and Beyazıtturm (left) above the Golden Horn
View from the southeast with the Dar-ül Kura and the outer courtyard wall
Galleries with cleaning wells
In front on the left the Rustem Pascha Mosque , behind it the terraced madrasas and the Suleymaniye
Entrance building to the inner courtyard with observatory
Main entrance to the inner courtyard with a marble fountain

The Suleymaniye Mosque ( Turkish Suleymaniye Camii ) is one of the large mosques in İstanbul . It was built on behalf of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent in a very short construction period between 1550 and 1557 and is an important work of the architect Sinan .

Description and history

The monumental Külliye , to which the mosque belongs, has a similar urban planning and imperial claim as the Fatih mosque Mehmed the Conqueror. The complex takes on the difficult topography on the steep third hill of the city and the surrounding streets as a challenge and comes up with original architectural solutions. Masterful are z. For example, the third and fourth Medrese (Rabi and Salis Medresesi) completed, 1558/59, with their terracing for Golden Horn out. Inside the mosque, the famous Bolus red is used in the İznik tiles for the first time . 130 colored, multicolored stone glass windows with exquisite calligraphy let the light pass through the kibla wall . As in the Üç Şerefeli Mosque in Edirne, the inner courtyard is surrounded by four minarets, the two facing the mosque being higher (81 meters).

The execution of the Külliye was mostly done by free craftsmen from many parts of the Ottoman Empire , including numerous Greeks and Armenians (approx. 50% share of Christians). Janissary recruits were involved in roughly 40% of the work, primarily in unskilled labor. Slaves, on the other hand, were employed for less than 5%, mostly on the galleys that transported building materials. A total of between 2500 and 3000 workers were employed in the construction. Sinan called the Suleymaniye Mosque his "journeyman's work" ( kalfalık eseri ) and he adopted the dome system of the main dome, two half-domes and two shield walls from the Sultan Beyazıt Mosque and Hagia Sophia in the construction plan of a four-pillar mosque , but came to completely different ones Spatial effects. The Suleymaniye Mosque is an example of Ottoman architecture at the beginning of its peak.

The mosque is located in a courtyard measuring 216 by 144 meters, which also includes the doorways and a cemetery. Outside, the dimensions, including the inner courtyard, are 108 by 73 meters. The mosque is 59 meters long and 58 meters wide inside. The courtyard area is 46 by 32 meters. The main dome is 53 meters high and 27.25 meters in diameter. The mosque of Sultan Selim II in Edirne and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul reached similar dimensions . Sinan had 64 clay vessels, each 0.5 meters in diameter, built into the central dome. This gave him excellent acoustics.

For the enormous weight of this mosque, Sinan had a foundation made of a particularly suitable cement, stabilized with piles, which he let dry very slowly. Only after the foundation had been gently set, had achieved the desired strength and its earthquake waves had a buffering effect, did he have the high-rise buildings erected.

In addition to the main mosque with the prayer room ( cami ) and the forecourt ( avlu ) including the cleaning well ( şadırvan ), the building complex, known as Külliye , also consists of the following surrounding buildings:

In the garden behind the main mosque are two mausoleums (Türbe) in which Sultan Suleyman I, his wife Roxelane (Haseki Hürrem) and his daughter Mihrimah , his mother Dilaşub Saliha and his sister Asiye as well as the sultans Suleyman II , Ahmed II and the daughter of Mustafa II , Safiye are buried. At the edge of the complex is the tomb of the architect Sinan .

For a long time it was the custom in the Ottoman Empire not to build any further magnificent buildings on mosques if there were already enough places of prayer in the city. This was regarded as not very pious and was sharply reprimanded by the chief clergyman. Waste is generally not welcomed in Islam, and modesty is a great virtue. This is why an entire mosque complex (Külliye) with charitable institutions was often built to legitimize additional magnificent buildings. At the same time, some institutions were used to finance the maintenance of the Külliye, e.g. B. Shops.

The Sultan Suleyman Mosque was the most ambitious foundation of the Sultan Suleyman, but he also had remarkable public buildings erected in Southeastern Europe , Anatolia , Mecca , Medina , Damascus , Jerusalem , Baghdad , etc., to demonstrate and legitimize the ruler's power.

Interpretation of the Süleymaniye Külliye

Main dome with paintings by Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati
(19th century), in the Ottoman. Baroque inspired
Courtyard with porphyry and rose granite columns
Mukarnas capital
Calligraphy with İznik tiles in the courtyard
Marble stalactite work ( mukarnas ) above the mosque entrance
View of the Kibla wall
Prayer room to the left of the mihrab with main pillar
chandelier
Türbe of Sultan Suleyman I.
Türbe of the Roxelane
Mosque cemetery

The interpretation of the Süleymaniye Külliye is based on numerous connotations and levels of meaning, which can be found, for example, on a functional level, in cultural associations and myths that e.g. B. caused by the conscious use of certain building materials, reveal in the design language of the architecture and also in the many inscriptions.

Since Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, the Ottoman sultans increasingly saw themselves as defenders of orthodox Sunni Islam against the partially heterodox Sufi orders, which is why this is also expressed in the arrangement of the theological faculties axially close to the flanks of the mosque. The growing influence of the ulema (spiritual scholars) is evident in the large number of theological universities. While Sultan Mehmed II was still the successor of the Roman emperors as Sultan-i Rum (Rum = Rome), the legitimation of the Sultan was shifted after Suleyman's father Selim I took the Arab heartlands and assumed the title “Protector of the Holy Places “ Mecca and Medinas towards a more Islamic ruler and the name Padischah-i Islam .

Suleyman's imperial mosque as an expression of power was visited by the sultan on a weekly basis, thus establishing a public connection between the rulers and the ruled and strengthened through alms donations.

The dome has been a metaphor for the vault of heaven for centuries . Contemporaries described the domes and lower half-domes as if they were twins of the heavenly orbits. "The earth challenges the sky with domes that are even higher than paradise." The babbling marble fountain in the inner courtyard is reminiscent of "Kawthar" , the river in paradise . But the entire mosque is also seen as a symbol of paradise, which is also emphasized in the most exquisite calligraphy. The light that lavishly falls into the mosque also has a high symbolic significance (as is usually the case in Ottoman buildings), promoted by colorful stone-glass windows that are decorated with calligraphy, e.g. B. with the verse of light from the Koran ( sura 24 , 35):

“God is the light of heaven and earth. Its light is comparable to a niche in which there is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass. The glass is like a twinkling star. It is lit by a blessed tree, an olive tree, neither east nor west, the oil of which is almost glowing, even without the fire having touched it. Light over light. God leads whom He wills to his light, and God leads the parables to man. And God knows all things. "

The mosque is flooded with divine light. In addition, over 2000 oil lamps made of glass (at that time supplemented with halved ostrich eggs) light up the interior like a starry tent.

The wall niche towards Mecca ( Kibla ) is decorated with exquisite İznik tiles showing plants and flowers from a heavenly garden. This paradise theme is increasingly repeated in the mausoleum of Suleyman and his wife Roxelane , and Suleyman also had the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem decorated with these blue and red İznik tiles when he was renovating it. It is interesting that in return, the Suleyman's mausoleum is a quote from the Dome of the Rock, with its double dome, its inner round arcades, its octagonal floor plan and its outer colonnades. In addition, the inner ceiling is also embedded with rock crystal stones and otherwise adorned, making it very similar to the ceiling of the dome of the rock. These similarities are not by chance, as they are supposed to point to the legendary temple of the king and prophet Solomon. So Süleyman also explicitly points this out in fountain inscriptions and speaks of himself as " Süleyman-i Zaman " (Solomon of the age).

The deed of foundation refers to the mosque as the newly built legendary Iram, the city of a thousand columns , also an image of paradise. This reference to the mystical Iram also illuminates the enormous effort that went into finding and selecting the granite, porphyry and marble columns. These columns were sought all over the Ottoman Empire , from ancient ruins, but also from later, ruinous buildings that had already used such spolia. It is reported that 17 marble columns were used from the hippodrome in Constantinople. The enormous difficulties of transporting these massive stones soon led to numerous legends, similar to those that appeared during the construction of Hagia Sophia, and which were ultimately intended to demonstrate the strength, wealth and productivity of the empire and its sultan.

Just as the Hagia Sophia is based on the legendary temple of Solomon (" templum novum salomonis "), the Süleymaniye continues this interpretation with its same construction scheme (dome - two half-domes - two shield walls). Suleyman also used special ships to fetch priceless pillars from the Jupiter temple of Baalbek , as had happened in Hagia Sophia. He also brought columns from his conquests of Rhodes, Belgrade and Malta. From all of this it can be seen that the Solomonic references are not accidental. Every column, which was brought from far away areas, symbolizes the memories of the different peoples.

Inside, two huge rose granite columns support a triumphal arch-like motif under the shield walls. Two of the columns are said to come from Alexandria and Baalbek - the Baalbek Temple is interpreted in Islamic sources as the legendary palace of Solomon, built for the Queen of Sheba , the other two columns from a royal palace in Istanbul and another location in Istanbul (possibly Augusteion and hippodrome ). Two other pillars from Alexandria sank in a storm on a ship. These four pillars also symbolize the four successors of Muhammad : Abu Bakr , Umar , Uthman , and Ali . The four law schools of Sunni Islam were also seen in it, as well as in the four universities around the mosque. The four minarets also give an analogy: The four “friends” (successors) of Mohammed. Another association of the four minarets is that Suleyman was the fourth sultan since the conquest of Constantinople. The minarets together have ten balconies, which could indicate that he was the tenth sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

The dome, supported by four huge arches, can also be associated with the interpretation of the four caliphs and four schools of law, roofed over by Mohammed. This canopy motif is also compared in sources with the arches of the palace of the Sassanid ruler Chosraus .

The mosque was also viewed by contemporaries as the "second Kaaba ". In this context, a letter from the Shiite enemy Shah Tahmasp I from Iran for the opening ceremony is astonishing : He called the mosque a sanctuary and writes that he feels reminded of the “Holy House of God” (= Kaaba). These analogies to the Kaaba are no coincidence, because in the mausoleum of Sultan Süleyman an original piece of the sacred black meteorite of the Kaaba was framed above the entrance.

The location above the Golden Horn on the third of Istanbul's seven hills is no coincidence. The mosque dominates the silhouette of Istanbul and from there you have a panorama over the whole city. Evliya Çelebi writes that from there you can see the “whole world”. The motif of the enthroned mosque, over its surrounding buildings, over the whole city, with its cascading dome pyramid, stands for the Ottoman Empire with the sultan at the top.

The interior decoration is compared e.g. B. executed sparingly with the Hagia Sophia, subordinating itself entirely to the architecture. The crystalline geometric structure of the building was intended to capture the viewer, not its surfaces. The Euclidean geometry comes into its own. The gaze is drawn to the sophistication of the materials. And the calligraphies, whose texts, apart from the founding calligraphy, all come from the Koran and are intended to extol the absolute power of the Sultan.

Many of these Quranic verses, such as from sura 39 verse 73, refer to paradise:

“But those who (in their earthly life) were afraid of their Lord will be brought to paradise in droves (ie driven into paradise). When they finally get there, its gates will be opened (for them) and its guards say to them, " Hail be upon you!" You are happy to praise (?). Enter now into paradise (w. In it) in order to dwell (forever in it)! "

Further inscriptions are located above the entrances and thus indicate the mosque as an entrance to the garden of paradise on earth (13.24 and 16.32):

“They (that is, the angels) say (to them): Hail be upon you! Enter paradise (as a reward) for what you have done (in your earthly life)! "

“ Hail be upon you! (This is your reward) for being patient. What an excellent last dwelling! "

The cosmology is quoted in the Kuppelvers (35.41):

“God holds fast to heaven and earth so that they do not move away. And if they (from the spot) were to leave, there would be no one who would then (after him) hold onto them (again). He is mild and ready to forgive. "

The radial writing in the dome, which runs out like rays of the sun, is incidentally similar to the decorations, as in the round tents of the Ottomans. The dome as a sky tent and vice versa, a very old Turkish symbol, which can already be found in Central Asia.

Just as God holds the cosmos together, the four mighty pillars with the four calligraphies of the caliphs in the pendentives hold the dome together. Further Koran claims promise to secure a place in paradise for the believer if they follow the Sharia orthodoxly - a historical reference to the rivalries that took place at the same time and before with the heterodox Iranian Safavids and the Kizilbash .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Suleymaniye Mosque  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Süleymaniye Camii sil baştan , CNNTÜRK ( Memento of the original dated November 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 20, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cnnturk.com
  2. ↑ Gülru Necipoğlu-Kafadar: The Süleymaniye Complex in Istanbul: An Interpretation. in: Muqarnas III: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture. Oleg Grabar (ed.). Leiden 1985. ( Memento of the original dated December 30, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.5 MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / archnet.org
  3. ↑ quoted from: Theodor Khoury: Der Koran. revised 2nd edition. Gütersloh 1992.
  4. ↑ quoted from: Rudi Paret: Der Koran . Stuttgart 1966.

Coordinates: 41 ° 0 ′ 58 ″  N , 28 ° 57 ′ 50 ″  E