Sinan / Classical
Sinan Pasha Mosque (Beşiktaş)
1554–1555 · Beşiktaş
The earliest known Istanbul example of Sinan's hexagonal baldaquin system (six piers + central dome), built for the younger brother of Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha — a brotherly pair responsible for two mosques in the top-15 list — and modeled explicitly on the pre-classical Üç Şerefeli Mosque as a structural learning exercise.
- Dome
- 12.6 m
- Minarets
- 1
- Built
- 1554–1555
- Architect
- Mimar Sinan
- Patron
- Sinan Pasha, Grand Admiral (Kaptan-ı Derya) of the Ottoman Navy
- District
- Beşiktaş
History
The mosque was commissioned by Sinan Pasha, Grand Admiral (Kaptan-ı Derya) of the Ottoman navy from 1550 to 1553, and the younger brother of Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha. He died in 1553 and never saw the mosque completed; the gilded Arabic foundation inscription above the mosque's arched gateway records the date of completion as November/December 1555. The original külliye included a mosque, madrasa, primary school (mekteb), and hamam; today only the mosque and madrasa survive. A comprehensive restoration was completed in 2014.
Architecture
The mosque is one of the earliest documented uses of Sinan's hexagonal baldaquin (six-pier) structural system in Istanbul: a 12.6 m dome rests on six supports — two free-standing hexagonal piers to the east and west, and four set into the north and south walls. The design was consciously modeled on the Üç Şerefeli Mosque in Edirne (1437–47), the last major pre-classical Ottoman mosque, but Sinan introduced structural improvements to address weaknesses in that earlier building. The interior is noticeably less decorated than other Sinan mosques, attributed to the patron's death during construction.
In Sinan's evolution
Early career (1554–55). First documented use of the hexagonal baldaquin in Sinan's Istanbul output. Acts as a structural prototype that Sinan would refine in Kara Ahmed Pasha (1565–72) and Molla Çelebi. The explicit debt to Üç Şerefeli Mosque (Edirne) shows Sinan still working from pre-classical Ottoman models while introducing structural improvements.
Sinan Tree →Photographs
