Re-thinking historiography on Ottoman mosque architecture: nineteenth century provincial sultan mosques


Thesis Type: Doctorate

Institution Of The Thesis: Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Architecture, Turkey

Approval Date: 2014

Thesis Language: English

Student: Ceren Katipoğlu Özmen

Supervisor: JALE ADİLE ERZEN

Abstract:

The main objective of this dissertation is to propose an alternative historiography on the 19th century Ottoman mosque architecture, free from the biased Eurocentric paradigms, by means of including the ‘unseen’ actors of this history, namely the disregarded provincial mosques. Provincial mosques constituting the case studies of the dissertation, point out to a previously neglected part of historiography by changing the emphasis from the capital to the provinces. Within the scope of this dissertation the following questions are discussed in depth: How the sultan and/or state ideology was represented in the Ottoman provinces during the 19th century? What kind of a power relation can be observed between the capital and its provinces through studying the characteristics of mosques architecture? In which aspects are the sultan’s mosques in the capital and in the provinces differ from or resemble each other? Can we discuss about distinguishing 19th century mosque architecture contrary to the established interpretations such as tasteless or imitation of western modes? In this frame, the dissertation is structured in two main parts. The first part, titled as ‘questioning’ aims to discuss the political relation between the central authority and the provinces, the building process of provincial mosques, the acts and the responsibilities of the institutions in this process and the responsibilities and limitations of the architects. In the second part, titled as ‘evaluation’, the provincial mosques are examined in terms of their construction dates and locations, the site choosing preferences in the cities, plan schemes, space configuration and facade designs. In the meantime, this evaluation is considered as a critical reading of the conventional historiography on the 19th century Ottoman mosques.