Sinan demonstrated his transformation of the Hagia Sophia plan from which he had drawn his inspiration: his dome which has a diameter of 26 meters (85 feet) and a height of 51.8 meters (170 feet), is buttressed by two half-domes and two typanum walls.
Sinan's solution of putting four minarets at the corners of his arcaded courtyard sets up a counterpoint between a solid volume on the mosque side and a inner space on the courtyard side.
The Hagia Sophia church and the Suleymaniye mosque: a thousand years apart but tied together eternally. One representing the achievement of the Christian-Byzantine empire and the other representing the ability of the Islamic-Ottoman empire and its architect Sinan. Two empires that had very little in common other than their architecture and region. In earlier history the Dome of the Rock represented the Islamic empire's attempt to rival the newly defeated Byzantine empire and its architectural achievements such as the Holy Sepulchre.
As history often repeats itself, with similar political motives the Suleymaniye mosque became the Ottoman's answer to the Byzantine's great achievement in their area - the Hagia Sophia. The result is that one finds in the Suleymaniye mosque the inspiration of the Hagia Sophia as well as the distinctive Islamic qualities that Sinan brought to it.
Because Sinan worked on the Hagia Sophia he became intimately familiar with its form and structure so its not surprising that it had an influence on much of his work. Of all his buildings, conceptually the Suleymaniye is probably the most similar to the Hagia Sophia with the basic concept of the central domed space made larger with attached semidomed spaces which in turn have smaller spaces attached topped by smaller domes. Because the dome of the Hagia Sophia was considered to be a great feat for the Christians Sinandesigned the dome of the Suleymaniye to send the message that not only were Muslims just as capable but, with an even larger and higher dome, that they were superior.
Sinan, who created over 400 works in his own time, was the royal architect under Suleyman and as such was also in charge of the Hagia Sophia's restoration.
S U L E Y M A N I Y E M O S Q U E
The mosque is part of a great Kulliye which comprises a mosque, four medreses, a medical medrese, darussifa, darulhadis, medrese, primary school, darulkurra, tabhane, daruzziyafe, caravanserai, shops, hammam and tombs. It is the largest Ottoman complex with construction involving the organisation of the one of the largest building site in the history of architecture. The construction begun in 1550 by the architect Sinan and completed in 1557.
The foundation the mosque sits on is 57 m of width and 60 m of length. The minarets, two tallest ones, 74 m each. There are 10 balconies fitted on them signifying that the magnificent was the 10th sultan in the succession. The dome is of 26.5 m diameter and 53 m high.
