25 Facts About Ottoman architecture

Ottoman architecture is the architecture of the Ottoman Empire, which emerged in northwestern Anatolia in the 13th century.

Early Ottoman architecture experimented with multiple building types over the course of the 13th to 15th centuries, progressively evolving into the Classical Ottoman style of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Ottoman architecture constructions were still abundant in Anatolia and in the Balkans, but in the more distant Middle Eastern and North African provinces older Islamic architectural styles continued to hold strong influence and were sometimes blended with Ottoman architecture styles.

The first Ottoman architecture structures were built in Sogut, the earliest Ottoman architecture capital, and in nearby Bilecik, but they have not survived in their original form.

Ottoman architecture is known as "Fatih" or the Conqueror after his conquest of Constantinople in 1453, which brought the remains of the Byzantine Empire to an end.

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Mehmed's largest contribution to religious Ottoman architecture was the Fatih Mosque complex in Istanbul, built from 1463 to 1470.

Ottoman architecture is credited with designing buildings as far as Buda and Mecca.

Ottoman architecture used a limited set of general forms – such as domes, semi-domes, and arcaded porticos – which were repeated in every structure and could be combined in a limited number of ways.

Ottoman architecture built the Tomb of Hayrettin Barbaros in the Besiktas neighbourhood in 1541.

Ottoman architecture instead experimented with other designs that seemed to aim for a completely unified interior space and for ways to emphasize the visitor's perception of the main dome upon entering a mosque.

Thanks to its refined architecture, its scale, its dominant position on the city skyline, and its role as a symbol of Suleiman's powerful reign, the Suleymaniye Mosque complex is one of the most important symbols of Ottoman architecture and is often considered by scholars to be the most magnificent mosque in Istanbul.

Some of the best examples of early 17th-century Ottoman architecture are the Revan Kiosk and Baghdad Kiosk (1639) in Topkapi Palace, built by Murad IV to commemorate his victories against the Safavids.

In 1720 an Ottoman architecture embassy led by Yirmisekiz Celebi Mehmed Efendi was sent to Paris and when it returned in 1721 it brought back reports and illustrations of the French Baroque style which made a strong impression in the sultan's court.

The "S" and "C" curves of Baroque Ottoman architecture, which were to become popular in later years, make an early appearance in some of the fountain's details.

Ottoman architecture'storical sources attest that the architect in charge was a Christian master carpenter named Simeon or Simon.

The closest precedent to this design in Classical Ottoman architecture is the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in the Edirnekapi neighbourhood.

The use of Ottoman architecture revival features in this mosque is an indication that the foundations for a future Ottoman architecture revivalist movement were already being laid at this time.

Construction of railway stations was a feature of Ottoman architecture modernisation reflecting the new infrastructure changes within the empire.

The orientalist and Ottoman revivalist trends of this period, of which Vallaury was a major figure, eventually led to the First National Architecture movement which, alongside Art Nouveau, dominated architecture in the last years of the Ottoman Empire.

Some of the earliest known tile decoration in Ottoman architecture is found in the Green Mosque in Iznik, whose minaret incorporates glazed tiles forming patterns in the brickwork.

Iznik ceramics and classical Ottoman architecture thus reached their greatest heights of achievement around the same time, during the reign of Suleiman and his immediate successors.

Dogan Kuban argues that while the vivid tiles inside the mihrab of the Rustem Pasha Mosque could have symbolized an image of Paradise, tile decoration in Ottoman architecture mosques did not generally have deeper symbolic meanings.

The most harmonious examples of tile decoration in 17th-century Ottoman architecture are the Yerevan Kiosk and Baghdad Kiosk in Topkapi Palace, built in 1635 and 1639, respectively.

Earth gardens in the Ottoman architecture period were highly impacted by paradise, therefore connected with the arts and spaces of everyday life, having many descriptions relating to the Qur'an.

Trees were thought to be the balancing element of Ottoman architecture that provided harmony between nature and buildings.

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