_Two Ottoman Documents on Architects in Egypt

Essay from Muqarnas Volume III: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture

The significance of two archival documents in Istanbul concerning architects who worked in Egypt in the late sixteenth century’lies in three areas. First, both documents mention the name of Sinan, the greatest architect of the Ottomans, and add to our information about the office of head architect, or ser micmdran-i hdssa, which was then occupied by him. Second, both deal with provincial architecture and thus add to our infor-mation about the relationship between Istanbul and peripheral areas. 2 Third, the documents help clarify the role of the architect, a very elusive component in Ottoman architecture. 3 We tend to ignore the creative role architects played when we discuss Ottoman buildings, except perhaps when we deal with those built by Sinan and his few students. This neglect is largely due to the meagerness of information in the sources concerning artists and architects. Biographical references to ar-chitects and critical descriptions of their buildings are very rare in Ottoman historiography. 4 If the documents described here are representative of others yet to be revealed, then archival material may still yield more of the kind of information we need. At the very least, we might discover how architects were hired, what their education was, and how they were organized. A thorough understanding and interpretation of Ottoman architecture requires a careful investigation of the interrelationship between the architectural endeavors undertaken in the various provinces, such as Egypt, and those undertaken in Istanbul and its environs. Clearly the study of the architecture of a province should do more than to document stylistic, structural, or typological peculiarities that set it apart from the architecture of the capital and other regions of the empire. Such a major tradition as Ottoman architecture is can only be defined in terms of its variations, permutations, and the extent of its influence over a large area and a span of time. As with Roman architecture, Ottoman architecture has to be seen in conjunction with the imperial system from which it takes its name and whose fortunes it reflects. Egypt, quite clearly, is a case in point.