The Turks

       Here is an update on my research on Ottoman architecture. So far I am about halfway through the book entitled Turkey: from the Selcuks to the Ottomans by Henri Stierlin. I found the book not only rich with architectural evidence of what represents Ottomans, but I learned a lot about their origins and how that mixes with their architecture. It turns out, their ancestors were the Huns, Mongols, Uighurs, Oghuz, and even the Xiongnu and Shatuo which are both Chinese cultures. With this unique architectural styles of these exquisite cultures, there were others that the Turks came into contact with that helped shape their unique culture including the Omayyad, Sassanid Persians, Indians, Byzantines, Arabians, Syrians, Armenians, Eastern Europeans, Egypt, and Northern Africa. The book also gets into great detail on how being Sunni Islam, wars, and other events also affects their architecture.
     So far, I have learned a lot about the Seljuk architecture, the influence of caravans, and got a nice interpretation of early Ottoman architecture. In around 1243, Anatolia was under much chaos due to the Mongol invasion, death of their sultan, revolts, uprisings, and conflicts between the tribal chiefs; and yet they still haven't lost their local architectural tradition. According to the text, they maintained the traditional Turkish architecture until they conquered Constantinople in which everything in the means of architecture changed. One example of this is how their mosque's evolved. According to the text, they used the mosque style of the Ulu Camii which compromised a partly porticoed courtyard leading to an oblong prayer hall with a central some. Also, it has 4 bays of ribbed vaults, forming 19 squares around the central dome (which covers 9 itself). Yet most iconacally, the prayer hall is wider than it is deep, a style that dates back to the Seljuks. These mosque forms are relatively traditional due to the fact that the are inspired by the classical Arab oblong plan to which they add a vast central dome.
     Other popular mosque styles included a single dome, square shape, and a single minaret remained a very popular for a long period of time. Other mosque ideas of the ottomans were brick minarets with turquoise tiles (a tradition of Persia and the Mongols), compact prayer halls, double domed, porches, T shaped buildings, star and octagon motifs, and even raised flooring. Surprisingly, they were interested in the west and asked both da Vinci and Michelangelo to come and help with the building projects they were performing.
       REPORT: mixed. Although this book is rich with architectural history, it worries me that it doesn't go into Ottoman culture until halfway through the book. What also worries me is the complexity in the wording of the book, which may be due to the lack of enough architectural knowledge. I will have to include many new sections in my essay that i wasn't planning on before, including origins of the Turks, seljuck style, and the influence of caravans on architecture. So for now, i will continue with this book, focusing not only on their styles of architecture, but also more on what caused them to adapt to those forms of architecture.