What is the secret of the art of the Ottoman Empire: When East meets West

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Every time when it comes to the Ottoman Empire, images and fantasies about a power inhabited by great sultans, filled with exotic aromas and accompanied by the sounds of a muezzin calling for Islamic prayer immediately pop up in my head. But that is not all. During its heyday, the great Ottoman Empire (circa 1299-1922) spread from Anatolia and the Caucasus through North Africa to Syria, Arabia and Iraq. It has united many disparate parts of the Islamic and Eastern Christian worlds, uniting Byzantine, Mamluk and Persian traditions, leaving behind a distinct artistic, architectural and cultural heritage, thereby forming a special Ottoman artistic vocabulary in which the East meets the West.

To understand how art, as well as the architecture of the Ottoman Empire, arose and developed, you need to take a closer look at its history. Starting with the conquest of Constantinople, moving on to the Golden Age during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, when the famous architect Mimar Sinan achieved his greatest works, and finally ending with the Tulip Period of Sultan Ahmed III.

In the 15th century, Mehmet II, better known as Mehmet the Conqueror, founded a new capital of the Ottomans in the former Byzantine Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul. Upon arrival, he combined the Turkic and Persian-Islamic traditions with the Byzantine and Western European artistic repertoire.

One of the greatest examples of how the East met the West in Constantinople was the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque. The church was built in 537 by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, and for almost a thousand years, the building was the largest cathedral in the world. It is believed that Mehmed II went directly to Hagia Sophia after entering Constantinople to perform his first Islamic prayer. Then the domed church was turned into a mosque, and four minarets were added to the building. Before the construction of the Blue Mosque, a few hundred meters from the hotel in the 17th century, Hagia Sophia served as the main mosque in Istanbul.

But in 1934, the cathedral was turned into a museum by the first President of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The building was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and thus it was possible to ensure the preservation of its complex and multi-layered cultural, historical and religious value, including the Byzantine frescoes that were plastered earlier. Only recently was the status of the Hagia Sophia as a museum canceled, and now it is again a mosque.

Since then, this cathedral has been at the center of Istanbul's story "East meets West", there are more examples of how Mehmed's work had a huge impact on the Ottoman understanding of art and architecture. Throughout his reign, Ottoman, Iranian and European artists and scholars appeared at court, making Mehmed II one of the greatest Renaissance patrons of his time. He ordered two palaces: Old and New, later built Topkapi palaces.

The palaces served as the main residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman sultans. Topkapi buildings are complex and more like a fortified royal city. The palaces include four large courtyards, an imperial treasury and, of course, the infamous harem, which literally means "forbidden" or "private." Many European artists were fascinated by the idea of this secret zone, which housed up to three hundred concubines and to which no outsider could have access.

Thus, when it comes to Topkapi palaces, an image pops up in the head, which was largely created by Western artists fantasizing about life in a harem. Therefore, stories of lustful sultans, ambitious courtiers, beautiful concubines, and cunning eunuchs have largely been conveyed by Western artists such as Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.

But in reality, these stories rarely reflected the reality of life in the Ottoman court. After all, Ingres had never been to the Middle East. While Topkapi Palaces are undoubtedly one of the greatest achievements of the Ottomans, it was only a century later that the Ottoman Empire saw its zenith of art, architecture and culture.

The reign of Suleiman (r. 1520-66), commonly known as the "Magnificent" or "Legislator", is often seen as the "Golden Age" for the Ottoman Empire, defined by geographic expansion, trade, and economic growth. And the continuing military successes even gave the Ottomans the status of a world power, which, of course, also influenced the cultural and artistic activities of the empire. This important period saw changes in all fields of art, especially in architecture, calligraphy, handwritten painting, textiles and ceramics.

The visual culture of the Ottoman Empire influenced various regions. Despite local variations, the legacy of the sixteenth century Ottoman artistic tradition can still be seen almost everywhere from the Balkans to the Caucasus, from Algeria to Baghdad and from Crimea to Yemen. Some of the characteristic features of this period are hemispherical domes, slender pencil-shaped minarets and closed courtyards with domed porticos.

However, among the most prominent cultural achievements of this period were the mosques and religious complexes built by Mimar Sinan (c. 1500-1588), one of the most famous Islamic architects. Hundreds of public buildings were designed and built by him throughout the Ottoman Empire, contributing to the spread of Ottoman culture throughout the empire.

Mimar Sinan is considered the greatest architect of the classical period of Ottoman architecture. He has been compared to Michelangelo, his contemporary in the West. He was responsible for the construction of over three hundred large structures and other more modest projects. Various sources claim that Mimar's work includes ninety-two mosques, fifty-two small mosques (mesquite), fifty-five schools of theology (madrasah), seven schools for reciting the Koran (darulkurra), twenty mausoleums (turbé), seventeen public kitchens (imaret), three hospitals (darushifa), six aqueducts, ten bridges, twenty caravanserais, thirty-six palaces and mansions, eight crypts and forty-eight baths, including the Cemberlitas Hamami, which is usually called one of the most beautiful.

This remarkable achievement was only made possible by Mimar's prestigious position as chief architect of the palace, which he held for fifty years. He was the overseer of all construction work in the Ottoman Empire, working with a large team of assistants made up of other architects and master builders.

Before him, Ottoman architecture was eminently pragmatic. The buildings were repetitions of earlier types and were based on rudimentary plans. Sinan gradually changed this by finding his own artistic style. He revolutionized well-established architectural practices, reinforcing and transforming traditions, thus seeking to find innovative ways, constantly trying to approach excellence in his buildings.

The stages of development and maturation of Mimar's career can be illustrated by three main works. The first two are located in Istanbul: the Shehzade Mosque, which was built during his apprenticeship, and the Suleymaniye Mosque, named after Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, which is the work of the qualification stage of the architect. The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne is a product of the main stage of Mimar and is considered one of the highest architectural achievements in the entire Islamic world.

Mimar's legacy did not end after his death. Many of his students later designed buildings of great importance themselves, such as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, in Istanbul and the Old Bridge (in Mostar) in Bosnia and Herzegovina - both of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

In the period after the death of Suleiman, architectural and artistic activity resumed under the auspices of the imperial family and the ruling elite. However, in the 17th century, the weakening of the Ottoman economy began to take its toll on art. The sultans were forced to reduce the number of artists hired earlier during the time of Suleiman the Magnificent to ten people, dispersed more than one hundred and twenty painters. However, during this period many outstanding artistic works were performed, the most important achievement of which is the Ahmet I Mosque in Istanbul (1609-16). The building replaced the Hagia Sophia as the city's main mosque and continues to be on the list of the great architect Mimar Sinan. Due to the interior tile pattern, it is better known as the Blue Mosque.

Under Akhmet III, art was revived again. He built a new library in Topkapi Palace and commissioned a Surname (Book of Holidays), which documents the circumcision of his four sons, recorded by the poet Vehbi. The paintings detail the festivities and processions through the streets of Istanbul and were completed under the direction of the artist Levny.

The reign of Ahmed III is also known as the Tulip period. The flower's popularity is reflected in a new floral decoration style that replaced the scalloped-leaf, cloud-stripe Saz ornament that has characterized Ottoman art for many years and is found in textiles, lighting, and architectural ornamentation even to this day.

Continuing the topic of the Ottoman Empire, read also about who was taken to the sultan's harem and how women lived in "golden" cages under the scrutiny of the eunuchs and Valide.