“We are all servants here!” Mimar Sinan – architect of the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

Mimar Sinan is the best known architect of the Ottoman Empire. His origin is uncertain. Sinan started his career as a christian slave. He participated in several campaigns as a member of the yard cavalry and as a military engineer. The success of his war-related buildings helped him to become the chief architectural authorithy of the Empire. His long life, fifty years of which he spent as the chief architect, coincided with the golden age of empire. The conquered areas provided plenty of construction tasks, as well as did the clients, who were aspiring for architectural representation worthy of their rank – among them the monarch and his wider environment. In addition, the empire, not being without financial resources, was also able to realize these plans. He became a symbol of the most glorious era of the Ottoman Empire through his works.