In Istanbul, a mosque fit for a sultan
ISTANBUL |
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Tayyip Erdogan has described his third term as Turkish prime minister as that of a “master”, borrowing from the celebrated Ottoman architect Sinan and the last stage of his storied career after apprenticeship and graduation.
It’s a lofty allusion.
Sinan’s 16th-century creations came to define the Ottoman Empire at its apogee, the Suleymaniye Mosque, built for Sultan Suleiman, part of Istanbul’s unmistakable skyline.
Now, entering a second decade at the helm of a country reveling in its regional might, Erdogan wants to leave his own mark on the cityscape with what will be Turkey’s biggest mosque, a “giant mosque,” he says, “that will be visible from all across Istanbul.”
To be built on the highest hill on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, planners boast the structure will hold up to 30,000 worshippers and bear six minarets taller than those of the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi, or the Prophet’s Mosque, in Medina.
It is symbolic of Turkey’s tilt to the east under Erdogan, who has chipped away at the founding secularism of the modern republic and presided over its emergence as a power in the Middle East.
But the Istanbul elite are up in arms.
Some have branded the proposed mosque unsightly and ostentatious, a thinly-disguised declaration of victory by Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government over the secularists and their guardians in the military.
“On the European side, Sultan Suleiman put his mark on the city with the Suleymaniye Mosque, which could be seen everywhere from old Istanbul,” said Emre Kizilkaya, a blogger and foreign editor at the Hurriyet daily. “Now many think Erdogan wants to put his own mark on the Asian side.”
Picked in mid-November in a hasty competition limited to Turkish architects, the winning design bears a striking resemblance to Istanbul’s iconic 400-year-old Sultanahmet Mosque, or Blue Mosque, built by a student of Sinan.
One religiously conservative intellectual called it a “cheap replica” and wrote to Erdogan imploring him not to embarrass coming generations with such “unsightly work.”
“There’s a saying in Turkish – ‘You don’t discover America again,’” said Oguz Oztuzcu, chairman of the Istanbul Independent Architects’ Association. “You don’t try to make another Sydney Opera House, do you? They’re competing with existing icons.”
Even the country’s culture minister is unconvinced.
“It’s not success in today’s world to build gigantic structures. It was success during the era of Sinan. Now it’s just about how much cement you’re using,” said Ertugrul Gunay, a rare dissenting government voice.
“We should build something like a gem, and it should shine with its
Article source: PRNewswire
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