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THE UNTOLD LEGACY OF MIMAR SINAN
THE 16th CENTURY BALKAN MOSQUE
YEAR: 2022
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TYPE: Dissertation
This report investigates the legacy left through the works of Mimar Sinan in the Balkans from the sixteenth century.
This report is significant because it investigates an unexplored area of Sinan’s legacy. Subject to prejudice by orientalist scholars for decades, the influence of his Balkan mosques has gone underappreciated.
Aiming to expose Sinan’s conscious dialogues with early Ottoman, Byzantine and Italian Renaissance architecture, three main case studies are carried out to lead the report. The Banya Bashi Mosque, Sofia, Bulgaria (1566), Muradie Mosque, Vlore, Albania (1537) and Karadoz Bey Mosque, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1557). Each displays regional influence on their design, unique from anything found in the former Ottoman capitals.
The results prove Machiel Kiel’s (1990) theory that Sinan’s Balkan mosques revolutionized Ottoman building practice, finding that in some cases, Sinan’s Balkan mosques don’t just match the grandeur of his monuments in the former Ottoman capitals but surpass it. Concluding that Sinan’s legacy in the Balkans lives on through the historical and cultural value of his mosques.
