MetaFilter posts tagged with Istanbul

Reaching for the Heavens

adamvasco — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:38:19 -0800

Mimar Sinan; 16th century Ottoman Architect Mimar Sinan born a Christian in Anatolia, from either a Greek or Armenian background, was conscripted into Ottoman service in 1511, and converted to Islam. He was the chief Ottoman architect to four sultans. Sinan worked in seismic, as well as political, fault zones, and his buildings are famous for their earthquake resistance. His extraordinary output included 146 mosques. The "Apprentice Work": - The Sehzade mosque. The "Qualification Work" : - The Suleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul's greatest, covers almost 25 acres and includes in addition to the large mosque (basilica plan), four schools (medreses), a hospice, public baths (hamam), a hospital & dispensary, bookshops, a library, the Sultans’ tomb (turbe) and the worlds first teaching asylum (bimarhane). The Solaris. The decorative inscriptions on the dome are by the famous callgrapher Ahmet Karahisari . Round window with glasswork by Ibrahim the drunkard. The "Masterpiece" : - The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. wiki Sinan Legacy of Suleymaniye the Magnificent: I, who am Sultan of the Sultans of East and West, fortunate lord of the domains of the Romans, Persians, and Arabs, Hero of creation, Neriman of the earth and time, Padishah and Sultan of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, of the extolled Kaab a and Medina the illustrious and Jerusalem of the noble, of the throne of Egypt and the province of Yemen, Aden, and San'a, of Baghdad and Basra and Lhasa and Ctesiphon, of the lands of Algiers and Azerbaijan, of the region of the Kipshaks and the lands o f the Tartars, of Kurdistan and Luristan and all Rumelia, Anatolia and Karaman, of Wallachia and Moldavia and Hungary and many kingdoms and lands besides; the Sultan Suleyman Khan, son of the Sultan Selim Khan.. Related .

Iraq? Turkey? Ah, who cares, they're all Ay-rabs anyway...

kgasmart — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 09:54:55 -0800

Baghdad is calm, except it's neither. So this guy Howard Kaloogian is running for Congress in California, and he supports the troops. Thinks they're making all sorts of progress that simply isn't reported by the evil lib'rul mainstream media, so he went to see Baghdad for himself, and posted a picture of a calm Baghdad street - See? No terrorists here! Except that certain sleuthing types found something awfully fishy about that photo...

Old Istanbul.

languagehat — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 18:18:08 -0800

Old Istanbul Postcards. If you have any fondness for old city views, this is irresistible. Here's a look at the Old City of Istanbul a hundred years ago (Hagia Sophia is just left of center), and here's the gate of the Ottoman War Ministry, now Istanbul University (map). There's lots more where those came from. (Via Desultory Turgescence.)

The Topkapi Palace Museum

hama7 — Tue, 15 Apr 2003 02:50:24 -0800

The Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul. Lavish treasures.