Early Years and Background
According to contemporary biographer, Mustafa Sâi Çelebi, Sinan was born in 1489 (c. 1490 according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, 1491 according to the Dictionary of Islamic Architecture and sometime between 1494 and 1499, according to the Turkish professor and architect Reha Günay ) with the name Joseph. He was born either an Armenian, Albanian or a Greek in a small town called Ağırnas near the city of Kayseri in Anatolia (as stated in an order by Sultan Selim II). One argument that lends credence to his Armenian background is a decree by Selim II dated Ramadan 7 981 (ca. Dec. 30, 1573), which grants Sinan's request to forgive and spare his relatives from the general exile of Kayseri's Armenian community to the island of Cyprus.
Several scholars have cited Sinan's possible Albanian origin, while according to the British scholar Percy Brown and the Indians Mahajan, the Mughal Emperor Babur was very dissatisfied from the local Indian architecture and planning, thus he invited "certain pupils of the leading Ottoman architect Sinan, the Albanian genius, to carry out his architectural schemes." The scholars who support the thesis of his Greek background have identified his father as a stonemason and carpenter by the name of Christos (Greek "Χρήστος"), a common Greek name. It is certain that both his parents were of the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith, since the Ottoman archives of that epoch recorded only religion information about the population (the concept of ethnicity was irrelevant to the religion-based Ottoman Millet system).
Sinan (Joseph) grew up helping his father in his work, and by the time that he was conscripted would have had a good grounding in the practicalities of building work. There are three brief records in the library of the Topkapı Palace, dictated by Sinan to his friend Mustafa Sâi Çelebi. (Anonymous Text; Architectural Masterpieces; Book of Architecture). In these manuscripts, Sinan divulges some details of his youth and military career. His father is mentioned as "Abdülmennan."
Read more about this topic: Mimar Sinan
Famous quotes containing the words early years, early, years and/or background:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)
“He took control of me for forty-five minutes. This time I’ll have control over him for the rest of his life. If he gets out fifteen years from now, I’ll know. I’ll check on him every three months through police computers. If he makes one mistake he’s going down again. I’ll make sure. I’m his worst enemy now.”
—Elizabeth Wilson, U.S. crime victim. As quoted in People magazine, p. 88 (May 31, 1993)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)