CONTRIBUTIONS OF CALLIGRAPHY TO AESTHETICS IN ARCHITECT SINAN’S ARCHITECTURE

Architect Sinan was a great artist, who substantially underscored proportion, harmony and simplicity. Unless requested by the funders, he avoided exaggerated ornaments in his works. He used inscriptions coherently and properly in his works, especially in mosques. He made most out of the spiritual and aesthetic power of calligraphy, thereby adding a new dimension to magnificence and power of architecture. Some calligraphy in mosques by Architect Sinan are original while some others have been added afterwards. Original calligraphy is usually seen as epigraphs engraved on stone/marble and inscriptions on tiles. Calligrapher of some scripts are known whereas some others are anonymous. The calligraphy in Architect Sinan’s works mostly belongs to the best-known calligraphers of the era. Since hand-drawn calligraphy on plasters are the most vulnerable one, they were renovated later. Some original calligraphy was damaged and dissipated because of incompetent handling during renovations. Inscriptions were selected according to the relation between space and meaning. There are plates bearing signatures of well-known calligraphers and some Ottoman sultans in most works by Architect Sinan, which are out of the scope of this study. This study focuses on the importance attached to calligraphy based on some important mosques built by Architect Sinan, the harmony between epigraphs and architecture, the value of inscriptions in terms of calligraphy aesthetics and the spiritual atmosphere they create in mosques. Besides, any other epigraphs on different structures that can be related with these will be also touched upon. Moreover, some controversial arguments about some epigraphs will be discussed.

Keywords

Architect Sinan, calligraphy art, aesthetic, architecture, mosque.