Islamic Architecture :Sinan The Architect *VS.* L.Da Vinci

Many people in the world know Leonardo DA VINCI (1452-1519)the Italian artist having a great range of capabilities in addittion Many people in the world know Leonardo DA VINCI (1452-1519)the Italian artist having a great range of capabilities in addittion to painting, like anatomy, bridge building, flight, war machines, cartography, architecture, mathematics, geology, biology, natural history, music and philosophy. On the other hand in the Islamic World a parallel and at least an equally important person lived in the same period .Unfortunately even many Moslems do not have any information about "The master architect Mimar Sinan", (1488-1588) who is also honored with a crater on Mercury named after him. Sinan's mosques and buildings of other types offer big scope for study because while no Italian architect built more than a few domed structures, Sinan is credited with over a hundred, including twenty-five in Istanbul alone. Various sources state that Sinan was the architect of around 360 structures Examples of his architecture aside from Istanbul and Edirne, can also be seen in Syria , Jerusalem, Egypt, Tunisia, Algiers, the Balkans and Hungary, where he built mosques, bridges, fountains ,palaces, aqueducts ,libraries and schools . Sinan participated in many military campaigns ranging from Central Europe to Iran and Iraq . In his job as a military engineer he oversaw the building of fortifications, ships and bridges. He made his first biggest reputation when he constructed a bridge over the River Pruth in Moldavia in just a few days. During his extensive travels for military purposes he saw many fine examples of the architecture of several civilizations, and took note of their qualities. Because of his exceptional talents and ability for organization, he was appointed chief architect to the Sultan Suleyman the Magnificient in 1538. So in this point I must say that Moslems can not show the world their values as well as other cultures do which is very important in intercultural relations.. Sinan who was generally considered the greatest of all Ottoman architects, unlike Vinci's luxurious life, lived in poverty during his century long life although he paid the highest wages to people he employed.In addition he was also a great inventor in acoustics,mathematics,geology,decoration with his 'matchless masterpieces in the world' which are 'worthy of the admiration of humankind'. Due to Sinan's rising reputation, many royal and individual clients demands caused a building boom that changed the Istanbul landscape to what today the Turks and people from all over the world consider the quality of this great city's image. Sinan, in the bridges he built, has masterfully combined art with functionalism. The largest of his work in this group is the nearly 635 m. long Büyükçekmece Bridge in Istanbul. Other significant examples are Silivri Bridge outside of Istanbul, Lüleburgaz (Sokullu Mehmet Pasha) Bridge on Lüleburgaz River, Sinanli Bridge over Ergene River and Drina Bridge which has became the title of the famous novel of Yugoslav author Ivo Andriç. While Sinan was maintaining and improving the water supply system of Istanbul, he has built arched aqueducts at several locations within the city. Maglova Arch over Alibey River, which is 257 meter long, 35 meters high and displaying two layers of arches is one of the best samples of its kind. Sinan's masterpiece at the age of 80 is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. Here the dome is placed above a square, being the largest dome in the world surpassing the Hagia Sophia where there are no columns to obstruct the view of the mosque He was an architect who grew up in one of the most splendid periods of the Ottoman Empire, and he contributed to this era with his Works below. • 94 great mosques (camii), • 57 universities, • 52 smaller mosques (mescit), • 41 bath-houses (hamam). • 35 palaces (saray), • 22 mausoleums (türbe), • 20 caravansary (kervansaray; han), • 17 public kitchens (imaret), • 8 bridges, • 8 store houses and • 7 schools (medrese), • 6 aqueducts, 3 hospitals (darüşşifa) God rest his soul in Peace. BEST REGARDS