Waw! Sulaimaniye Complex

Suleymaniye Mosque Exterior

From Eyub Al-anshori Mosque, We went to the Sulemayniye Mosque and its Complex. The Mosque is One of the best works of Mimar Sinan, the greatest turkish Arcithect. What surprised me first was The Cumhur's Question. “As you are an Engineer, in your opinion, How long was this Mosque built?” he asked to me. In Fact, I didn't know the history of the mosque at that time. I just answered him, “20 years”, as I knew that Taj Mahal was built in 22 years as well. Oh, I did a mistake. Mimar Sinan is much greater dan Shah Jehan from the moghul Kingdom in India. Cumhur told me that Sinan needed 6 years for the basic foundation of and only 2 months for the rest of all! Subhanallah, only two months for the rest. It was in 1550-1557.

Daruzziyafe, The Complex around, and Luthfu Abi :)

Suleymaniye Complex consists a big mosque, Daruzziyafe, shops, parks, graves, some student's rooms, and many other buildings. Each rooms has its owned dome. Not only human who gain the beneficiaries, but also the animals (birds, cats, and so on) around. Some small water surface-container are provided for them.

Small water surface-containers around

For more details about the magnificent of Sulaymaniye Complex, Check this link. We entered the Daruzziyafe, a place in Suleymaniye Complex used to serve foods for the poor at the time when Suleymaniye governed the kingdom. Right now, it is used as a restaurant. Ohhh, really! So many tourists came at that time, Moslems and nonmoslems.

Sulaymaniye Visitors

We were going to see the mausoleum of Sulaymaniye and his wife (at the left side of the photograph). When I was entering the mausoleum, I saw many people starring about the grave. There were so many symbols. Cumhur Abi helped me to distinguish two of them. The first symbol is a unique white thing above the Sulaymaniye's grave . It was the crown of the sulaymaniye. It was just the ihram (Kafan) used for clothing the dead man. So he was preparing himself ready to die wherever and whenever. What a big man! Than the full of spirit symbols of the Ottoman kingdom. Some weapons and old guns was put there, on the icon.

Luthfu Abi, Cumhur Abi, me inside the mausoleum of Sulaymaniye

After looking around, we headed to the inside of the mousque. Oh, The Mosque was under restoration. But no problem, Cumhur still explained me the uniqueness of this mosque. First, the Mihrab, the place where imam leads the prayers, there is a pair of pillars. These pillars will rotate when the earthquake happens. It is the earthquake-durable construction! Then, He told me that this mosque is completed with entrances and its owned unique pattern. What a masterpiece! It is an unmatched world class engineering and artwork achievement.