Sinan - Where art thou?

Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright aside, this guy from the age of empires had everything in his head. The firmans of the sultans are maybe long gone, but Mimar Sinan's touches simply were left untouched, standing still relevantly to what we call the modern days. Though only 196 out of his 476 buildings remain, his known legacy is simply can't be translated into numbers. Dubbed as Islam's greatest architect, Sinan's name was even honored for a crater in Mercury. Today, now - will there ever be the next Sinan?

I was left all alone in Istanbul during the last trip for one extra night. AB's family flew with Emirates, whose flight is a day earlier from mine. I remembered clearly how straight-forwardly uncomfortable the feeling was. Straightaway, I knew how exactly Ayah always feels when he is away alone in the overseas. My hotel isn't exactly located at the hip side of Istanbul, so basically I was (and currently am) surrounded with old bazaars, old mosques, old tombs, and a very old university. Altogether, I felt old.

The upscale and high-end areas of Taksim, Nişantaşı and Beşiktaş are quite far-away. I am not so fond of the idea of traveling perfectly alone across the Golden Horn to the Beyoglu side at that time. So I thought that I might as well stay in Eminönü - the peninsula area, area that spells Old Istanbul - and do some sight-seeing. It was as decent as a dry-cleaned underwear.

First voyage to Süleymaniye

There is actually a mosque bigger than the Blue Mosque and more important than Hagia Sophia. The whole mosque complex or kulliye, is by far the most complete. The hamam is still functional and the shops outside, arasta, the rents from which supports the mosque are still operational. Back in the heydays, a soup kitchen for the poor - imaret, and a medrese or school would function. The Süleymaniye Mosque, just like any other mosques in the empire thus catered to the central idea of a mosque - the center of the community.

It is Sinan's biggest feat, though he favoured for himself the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. The mosque was commissioned by the greatest of Ottoman sultans, Suleiman the Magnificent, whose 46 year-rule saw the Ottoman empire grew vastly rapid, and he himself was very powerful and rich. He was Sinan's most prominent patron, and it is largely under his rule that Sinan was able to practice his architectural ideas. Parallel to his outstanding rule the Sultan ordered a grand mosque to be built in one of Istanbul's seven hills.

Simply, he is inspirational. He was born Christian, absorbed into an Ottoman program called devşirme to be recruited into the Janissary corps. He converted to Islam, of course, been into many campaigns and lead many battles, specifically handling military engineering. He learnt mathematics and carpentry in the beginning, but soon assisted many leading architects, where he learnt to be a top architect himself.

Look, I cut the story short. God knows how I don't want my blog to be another Sejarah textbook. Sinan is placed at the footnote side of our textbooks anyhow, kindly by our textbook writers-cum-historians. Some would think of Cikgu Hakim by now. But simply that was how Sinan thrived. The true thing surely is not a fairy tale. Go Google.

I walked alone into the mosque complex on a funnily creepy and windy summer afternoon. I walked pass tombs guarded by grim walls with the Ottoman tombstones tall and huge. The cemetery was well looked-after, lovely yet spooky, with tombs shaded by huge trees. At the middle of the cemetery rose an established form of tomb belonging to the great Sultan. His wife, Roxelana, lies in another structured tomb besides his. Both were already closed.

I kindly gave a salam to an elderly man going out of the cemetery area with his walking stick at one hand, tasbih another. I pointed towards the tombs, and uttered 'Sinan?', awkwardly trying to be clear. My Turkish was limited. (and hey, neither does he knows any Malay).

The old man gestured.
'No,' he seemed interrupted,
'....Süleyman Kanuni..! ...Sinan....yok, yok'
Without actually looking at my face, he waved at the other side of the mosque. I got my direction.

Mimar Sinan is actually buried outside the mosque's walled garden. I didn't aware of that, so my first attempt to visit his tomb perfectly failed. I didn't managed to find his tomb. After having my Asar prayer at a mosque that seemed to be unremarkable gloomy and deserted compared to its other counterparts, I took a light stroll at its faint gardens. The sky was unpleasantly cloudy, and wind was blowing strangely strong. Clouds were over the Golden Horn, the pleasant view promised from the mosque's location was not pleasant at all.

Frustratingly, I went back to the hotel with some McDonald's. After watching DVDs AB had left for me, I fell asleep. I flew back to Kuala Lumpur the next day, having no idea that my next time would be so soon.

In July, I started my life as an architecture student. My life as one is a completely a different story, but Sinan, Istanbul and Ottoman architecture simply had their touch in my early assignments. My final project was of the Blue Mosque, my personal favourite, before it was stolen. I was as if struck by an overused electric socket initially, but as lecturers had given me marks, I got over it. Well, almost.

Second attempt: with success

Night falls and the Maghrib azan echoed through our ears. Massive restoration works are being conducted for the mosque which costs around 7 million YTL. The works stopped to allow worshippers to go in. There was only one saf, AB and I managed to catch the undesirably fast imam at the third rakaat. After the prayers, people dispersed, and the mosque was deserted with some tourists flocking in. There was a faint air, and the sight was dull.

Sinan, for all his life, did what he think was the best to challenge the miraculous achievement of Hagia Sophia's dome. Süleymaniye's Mosque's dome, though not the largest was at one time the highest of all Ottoman mosques. The mosque simply translates many of his engineering and at the same time architectural accomplishments, ironically, it is left to decline and its popularity simply is disappearing.

Efforts by the authorities that commenced on October 10 this year are seen as a light at the end of a toll-free tunnel, so I really hope that the place will be all restored to its glory the next time I come again.

We circled the mosque's garden walls, entering a nearly empty street, walked pass a building that once housed the public kitchen which today is turned to a restaurant. Making a turn into a junction, I took a glance on what could be another public fountain, before I started to take an extra notice. It was Sinan's tomb.

Silently, I was happy. On the other hand, AB was cursing silently, that's what I know. The area around the mosque, while it is supposed to be lively, is very quite and deserted. The lamps around the tomb was out. It was dark and it was potentially dangerous.

Sinan is humbly buried near what he could say as his another favourite masterpiece. It was upon his request. Today it is tacked at a junction. His carved name appears behind the darkness. His tombstone was shrouded in the dark. He might not even guessed that his final resting place would turned out to be dwelling in that way, but for a great man who may had chosen humility instead of excessive reverence, he certainly had paved his own way to the next life undisturbed by others.

Conclusion, but not the end

His death marked the decline of Classical Ottoman designs. And I think I've read too much Dan Brown. Anyway, I.M. Pei, Zaha Hadid and Mies van der Rohe among others are of course great, many of my course sidekicks look up much to these contemporary architects. While not imposing myself as exclusively backward, lining up Sinan with my other high-profile favourite architects- Minimalists, Neo-Conservatives, Modernists - could strike a point of unaligned originality.

Sinan thought me to be creative and at the same time, being sensitive to the environment at the present and in the future. Not adhering to this is the problem of our very Malaysian architecture, so basically it's back to my roots. It's as simple as to not build an igloo in the middle of the desert or anything of that sort. But we've turned our asses on it and ignorantly build inefficient buildings that is disastrous for our climate.

Nobody will be sure who is going to be the next Sinan. But to learn from what he has done and everything he has contributed is always a thing possible. He has done much for his part, and I thank him much for the inspiration he kicked me in the groins. It's cool to actually relate myself to his creations. While I'm waiting for Süleymaniye to be radiant again, it's just time to learn more.

Al-Fatihah, to Ḳoca Mi‘mār Sinān Āġā.

Sources are retained from Wikipedia and Lonely Planet: Istanbul, acquainted with other personal readings.

Pictures, from top

1. Interior of Süleymaniye Mosque
2. Süleymaniye Mosque, from the shores of the Golden Horn
3. Inside and outside, the mosque is undergoing a new look
3. Sinan's tomb with Süleymaniye Mosque looms at the back