Native name: Suleymaniye Camii
The Suleymaniye Mosque is located on the Third Hill of
Istanbul
. It is considered the second largest mosque in the city . It was built between 1550-1557 AD by Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent who was the richest and most powerful Sultan of the Ottoman empire . It was designed by the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan .
The design of the mosque is to some extent an architectural counterpoint to the
Byzantine
Hagia Sophia . However , Sinan build Süleymaniye mosque in a more symmetrical , rationalized and light-filled interpretation of earlier Ottoman precedents , as well as the Hagia Sophia . It is possible that the construction constitutes a dialogue between Italy and Istanbul and is a model for Sinan's enthusiasm for symmetrical and rational forms .
Suleymaniye mosque was damaged by a fire in 1660 and was restored by Sultan Mehmed IV . The earthquake in 1766 caused part of the dome to collapse . The frequent repairs of the mosque have concealed what was left of the original decoration of Sinan . The mosque was repaired again in the middle of the 19th century by the Swiss-Italian architect brothers Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati , however attempts were made to restore the mosque to its supposed original glory . The dome and the
semi-domes were painted in an Ottoman baroque style . Also , some of the original design was faithfully restored . Unfortunately , another fire broke out during World War I which caused damage to the mosque and it was not until 1956 that the mosque was fully restored again .
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