Nuruosmaniye Mosque
Mosques of Turkey - Nuruosmaniye Mosque / İstanbul
During the reign of Ahmed III in early 1700′’s, a thirty year period, known as the Tulip Period, from 1700 to 1730, all eyes were turned to the West. Ottoman architecture began to be influenced by the Baroque and Rococo styles that were popular in Europe and instead of monumental works, villas and pavilions around Istanbul were built; this was the turning point in Mosque Architecture. With Ahmed III’’s death, Mahmud I took the throne and ruled from 1730 through 1754, and during this period Baroque style mosques were starting to be constructed.
The most important of these is the Nuruosmaniye Mosque which was begun by Sultan Mahmud I in 1748 and completed by Sultan Usman III (1754 - 57) in 1755 Due to its architectonic features, and the first baroque example in the Ottoman Architecture, its regarded as one of the most successful. The mosque was constructed on one of the seven hills within the walls of former Constantinople (Istanbul today) Its architect is thought to be a Byzantine Greek, named Simeon. Some of the literature reports him to be Mustafa Agha.
The most important differences of Nuruosmaniye Mosque from classical Ottoman mosques are the plentiful ornaments on the main walls, ornamented minaret caps and the niche overlapping the main nave. The semi-circle designed courtyard with 12 columns and 14 domes and without a fountain outlines the architectural and ornamental baroque characteristics which the previously constructed mosques lack.
The courtyard has three entrances and there are two rows of windows at the outer walls. The mosque has a single central dome and no column within the prayer hall, with the dome measuring 25,75 meter high (also reported as 43,50 meter) and is raised on four massive arches. The central nave has three big entrance doors and approximately 30 to 32 windows to provide a plentiful of light, to reflect the name of the mosque (Nuruosmaniye: The Light of Usman. On each left and right sides of the altar there are a pulpit (Minbar) made out of green marble.
Beneath the gallery of minarets (Tower-like from where the Muazzin (Person calling for prayer) stood) there are horizontal tapes. Minaret spirals are made out of stone
- It’’s made up of five stories with 174 windows and the belts of these windows being arch shaped.
Inner walls of landing is divided into three by two rowed thick and projecting cornices. All through the landing of the pulpit, a Quranic description (referencing Chapter one of the Quran; Surah Al-Fatiha) is carved in marble. Yahya Fahreddin the calligrapher who wrote fifteen copies of the Quran, was also responsible for the inscriptions over the doors of the Nuruosmaniye Mosque.
The corner balconies are deepened further with the inclusion of arcade space; the one to the east is the sultan’’s lodge and has latticework between its columns. It is accessed primarily by a ramp outside the mosque that allowed the sultan to ascend to his quarters on his horse.
Part of the complex of the Nuruosmaniye Mosque is a manuscript library constructed in the Baroque style that was opened in 1755. It contains collections belonging to Sultan Mahmud I (1730-54) and Sultan Usman III (1754-57), of its 7600 volumes, 5052 are manuscripts (919 Ottoman Turkish, 3667 Arabic, 466 Persian).
