TURKISH MEDIA FINDS ATTEMPTS TO CONCEAL NATIONALITY OF ARMENIAN ARCHITECT SINAN DISGRACEFUL
14:57, 10 April, 2013
YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. Turkish website marksist.org touched
upon the issue of nationality of prominent Armenian medieval architect
of the Ottoman Empire Sinan and stated that nobody tells anything
about the Armenian identity of the famous architect, of whom both
the Ottomans and the Turks were proud about.
As reports "Armenpress" the website stated that the chief architect
of the medieval period of the Ottoman Empire Sinan was born in an
Armenian family in a small town called Agırnas near the city of
Kayseri in Anatolia. At the age of 22 Sinan was conscripted into
Ottoman service as a son of Christian. He is the first Armenian,
upon whom the title of Pasha was bestowed.
Among other things the Turkish website stated: "Nobody was worried
about Sinan's Armenian origin in the Ottoman Empire. But after the
establishment of the Republic of Turkey the Turkish "scientists",
who suffer the complex of inferiority, opened his tomb to discover
whether he was a Turk or not."
Sinân Ã~Bgâ was the chief Ottoman architect (Turkish: "Mimar")
and civil engineer for sultans Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II,
and Murad III. He was responsible for the construction of more than
three hundred major structures and other more modest projects, such
as his Islamic primary schools. His apprentices would later design
the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Stari Most in Mostar and help
design the Taj Mahal in the Mughal Empire.
The son of a stonemason, he received a technical education and
became a military engineer. He rose rapidly through the ranks to
become first an officer and finally a Janissary commander, with the
honorific title of aga. He refined his architectural and engineering
skills while on campaign with the Janissaries, becoming expert
at constructing fortifications of all kinds, as well as military
infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges and aqueducts. At
about the age of fifty, he was appointed as chief royal architect,
applying the technical skills he had acquired in the army to the
"creation of fine religious buildings" and civic structures of all
kinds. He remained in post for almost fifty years.
His masterpiece is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, although his most
famous work is the Suleiman Mosque in Istanbul. He headed an extensive
governmental department and trained many assistants who, in turn,
distinguished themselves, including Sedefkar Mehmed Agha, architect of
the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. He is considered the greatest architect of
the classical period of Ottoman architecture, and has been compared
to Michelangelo, his contemporary in the West. Michelangelo and his
plans for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome were well known in Istanbul,
since Leonardo da Vinci and he had been invited, in 1502 and 1505
respectively, by the Sublime Porte to submit plans for a bridge
spanning the Golden Horn.
14:57, 10 April, 2013
YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. Turkish website marksist.org touched
upon the issue of nationality of prominent Armenian medieval architect
of the Ottoman Empire Sinan and stated that nobody tells anything
about the Armenian identity of the famous architect, of whom both
the Ottomans and the Turks were proud about.
As reports "Armenpress" the website stated that the chief architect
of the medieval period of the Ottoman Empire Sinan was born in an
Armenian family in a small town called Agırnas near the city of
Kayseri in Anatolia. At the age of 22 Sinan was conscripted into
Ottoman service as a son of Christian. He is the first Armenian,
upon whom the title of Pasha was bestowed.
Among other things the Turkish website stated: "Nobody was worried
about Sinan's Armenian origin in the Ottoman Empire. But after the
establishment of the Republic of Turkey the Turkish "scientists",
who suffer the complex of inferiority, opened his tomb to discover
whether he was a Turk or not."
Sinân Ã~Bgâ was the chief Ottoman architect (Turkish: "Mimar")
and civil engineer for sultans Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II,
and Murad III. He was responsible for the construction of more than
three hundred major structures and other more modest projects, such
as his Islamic primary schools. His apprentices would later design
the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Stari Most in Mostar and help
design the Taj Mahal in the Mughal Empire.
The son of a stonemason, he received a technical education and
became a military engineer. He rose rapidly through the ranks to
become first an officer and finally a Janissary commander, with the
honorific title of aga. He refined his architectural and engineering
skills while on campaign with the Janissaries, becoming expert
at constructing fortifications of all kinds, as well as military
infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges and aqueducts. At
about the age of fifty, he was appointed as chief royal architect,
applying the technical skills he had acquired in the army to the
"creation of fine religious buildings" and civic structures of all
kinds. He remained in post for almost fifty years.
His masterpiece is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, although his most
famous work is the Suleiman Mosque in Istanbul. He headed an extensive
governmental department and trained many assistants who, in turn,
distinguished themselves, including Sedefkar Mehmed Agha, architect of
the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. He is considered the greatest architect of
the classical period of Ottoman architecture, and has been compared
to Michelangelo, his contemporary in the West. Michelangelo and his
plans for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome were well known in Istanbul,
since Leonardo da Vinci and he had been invited, in 1502 and 1505
respectively, by the Sublime Porte to submit plans for a bridge
spanning the Golden Horn.