Building the Architectural Narrative of the Topkapı Kara Ahmed Pasha Mosque Complex in Early Republican Turkey

Öz

The Kara Ahmed Pasha Mosque complex in Topkapı, Istanbul, a sixteenth-century monument, is one of the beacons in the architectural historiography created during the early republican period in Turkey. Noted in Mimar Sinan’s autobiographies, the mosque became an academic subject of formalist monographs and research. The early republicans’ formalist construct of the historic complex resonated with the theory of modern architecture. Function was not seen as an autonomous facility that had to be connected with other contextual facets but as an internal force through which architectural form emerged. Hence, Sinan’s devised form for the mosque was merely conceived as the outcome of the chief architect’s rational consideration of function and structure. In return, the formal appreciation of the historic compound devoted itself single-mindedly to the aesthetic properties of architecture and muted contextual analysis as a research inquiry. This essay provides a closer reading of the early republican historiography on the Kara Ahmed Pasha Mosque complex to unveil the formal references that have perpetuated the long-standing understanding of the historic complex.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kara Ahmed Pasha Mosque complex
• Mimar Sinan
• formalist analysis
• early republican Turkey
• historiography

Topkapı’da bulunan Kara Ahmed Paşa Külliyesi’nin Erken Cumhuriyet Dönemi’nde Mimari Anlatımının Şekillenmesi

Öz

On altıncı yüzyıl mimari eserlerinden, Topkapı’da bulunan Kara Ahmed Paşa Külliyesi, erken cumhuriyet döneminde üretilen tarih yazımı çalışmalarının odak noktalarından biri olmuştur. Mimar Sinan’ın otobiyografilerinde bahsi geçen külliye, dönemin biçimsel çözümlenmiş monografilerinde ve çalışmalarında yer almıştır. Erken cumhuriyet dönemi aydınları, Kara Ahmed Paşa Külliyesi’ni modern mimarlık teorisi ekseninde biçimsel değerlendirmiştir. Mimari işlev, bağlamsal özelliklerden bağımsız tutulmuş, form içsel bir hüküm olarak tanımlanmıştır. Bu bağlamda, Mimar Sinan’ın Kara Ahmed Paşa Cami için ürettiği mimari form, mimarbaşının kendi rasyonel değerlendirmesi olarak görülmüştür. Böylece, Kara Ahmed Paşa Külliyesi’nin biçimsel analizi estetik hükümlere odaklanmış ve bağlamsal çözümlemeler göz ardı edilmiştir. Bu makale, erken dönem cumhuriyet tarihyazımı kapsamında Kara Ahmed Paşa Külliyesi’ni incelemekte ve artık kemikleşmiş olan biçimsel anlayışını ele almaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kara Ahmed Paşa Külliyesi
• Mimar Sinan
• biçimsel analiz
• erken cumhuriyet dönemi
• tarihyazımı

Kaynakça

1. Ayvansarâyî, Hafız Hüseyin. The Garden of the Mosques: Hafız Hüseyin al-Ayvansarâyî’s Guide to the Muslim Monuments of Ottoman Istanbul. Translated and annotated by Howard Crane. Leiden: Brill, 2000.
2. Açıkgöz, Ümit Fırat. “On the Uses and Meanings of Architectural Preservation in Early Republican Istanbul (1923–1950).” Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association 1, no. 1/2 (2014): 167–185.
3. Akboy-İlk, Serra. “Crafting the Architectural Measured Drawings.” The Plan Journal 2, no. 1 (2017): 39–61.
4. ———. “Ali Saim Ülgen: A Dialectical Frame of the Republican Mind.” Tasarım Kuram 15, no. 28 (2019): 96-110.
5. ———. “Ali Saim Ülgen: Building a Historiography of Turkish Architecture.” Turkish Historical Review 10, no. 1 (2019): 71–97.
6. Akcan, Esra. “Asilik sonrası Mimarlık.” In Osmanlı Başkentinden Küreselleşen İstanbul’a: Mimarlık ve Kent, 1910–2010, 133–145. Istanbul: Osmanlı Bankası Arşiv ve Araştırma Merkezi, 2011.
7. ———. Architecture in Translation: Germany, Turkey, and the Modern House. Durham: Duke University Press, 2012.
8. Akurgal, Ekrem. “Sanat Tarihi Bakımından Sinan.” Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih - Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi 2, no. 3 (1944): 373–384.

9. Aslanapa, Oktay. Turkish Art & Architecture. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971.
10. ———. Türkiye’de Avusturyalı Sanat Tarihçileri ve Sanatkârlar: Özellikle Atatürk Devri’nde. Istanbul: Eren, 1993.
11. Aykaç, Pınar. “The Commission for the Preservation of Antiquities and Its Role in the Appropriation of IIstanbul’s Diverse Heritage as National Heritage (1939–1953).” New Perspectives on Turkey 62 (2020): 75–99.
12. Banham, Reyner. The New Brutalism. Stuttgart: Karl Kramer Verlag, 1966.
13. Baydar Nalbantoğlu, Gülsüm. “Between Civilization and Culture: Appropriation of Traditional Dwelling Forms in Early Republican Turkey.” Journal of Architectural Education 47, no. 2 (1993): 66–74.
14. Bilsel, Cânâ. “Remodelling the Imperial Capital in the Early Republican Era: The Representation of History in Henri Prost’s Planning of Istanbul.” In Architecture and Power in the Ottoman and Turkish States, edited by Jonathan Osmond and Ausma Cimdina, 95–115. Pisa: Edizioni Plus, Pisa University Press, 2007.
15. Bozdoğan, Sibel. Modernism and Nation Building: Turkish Architectural Culture in the Early Republic. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001.
16. ———. “Reading Ottoman Architecture Through Modernist Lenses: Nationalist Historiography and the‘New Architecture’ in the Early Republic.” in “History and Ideology: Architectural Heritage of the‘Lands of Rum,’” edited by Sibel Bozdoğan and Gülru Necipoğlu, special issue, Muqarnas 24 (2007): 199–221.
17. Bozdoğan, Sibel, and Esra Akcan. Turkey: Modern Architectures in History. London: Reaktion Books, 2012.
18. Bozdoğan, Sibel, and Gülru Necipoğlu. “Preface: Entangled Discourses.” in “History and Ideology: Architectural Heritage of the ‘Lands of Rum,’” edited by Sibel Bozdoğan and Gülru Necipoğlu, special issue, Muqarnas 24 (2007): 1–6.
19. Brockett, Gavin D. How Happy to Call Oneself a Turk: Provincial Newspapers and the Negotiation of a Muslim National Identity. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011.
20. Copeaux, Etienne. Tarih Ders Kitaplarında (1931–1993), Türk Tarih Tezinden Türk İslâm Sentezine. Translated by Ali Berktay. Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2006.
21. Egemen, Affan. İstanbul Çeşme ve Sebilleri. Istanbul: Arıtan Yayınevi, 1993.
22. Egli, Ernst. Sinan: Der Baumeister Osmanischer Glanzzeit. Zurich: Erlenbach, 1954.
23. ———. Sinan: Osmanli Altın Çağının Mimarı. Translated by İbrahim Ataç. Istanbul: Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayınları, 2009.
24. Goodwin, Godfrey. A History of Ottoman Architecture. London: Thames & Hudson, 1971.
25. Gurlitt, Cornelius. İstanbul’un Mimari Sanatı. Translated by Rezan Kızıltan. Ankara: Enformasyon ve Dokümantasyon Hizmetleri Vakfı, 1999.
26. Hamblen, Karen A. “Beyond Universalism in Art Criticism.” In Pluralistic Approaches to Art Criticism, edited by Doug Blandy and Kristin G. Congdon, 7–14. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1991.
27. Hearn, Millard Fil. The Architectural Theory of Viollet-le-Duc: Readings and Commentary. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995.
28. Hızlı, Neslinur, and Nezih R. Aysel. “Ernst Egli’nin Güzel Sanatlar Akademisi Mimarlık Egitimi Reformu Calısmaları” In Ernst A. Egli, Türkiye’ye Katkılar, edited by Ali Cengizkan, Selda Bancı and N. Müge Cengizkan, 75–84. Ankara: TMMOB Mimarlar Odası Yayınları, 2017.
29. Himam, Dilek, and Burkay Pasin. “Designing a National Uniform(ity): The Culture of Sümerbank within the Context of the Turkish Nation-State Project.” Journal of Design History 24, no. 2 (2011): 157–170.
30. Isom-Verhaaren, Christine. “A Princess Constructs Ottoman Dynastic Identity.” In Living in the Ottoman Realm, edited by Christine Isom-Verhaaren and Kent F. Schull, 150–165. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University, 2016.
31. Jeanneret, Charles-Édouard (Le Corbusier). Le voyage d’Orient. Paris: Forces Vives, 1966.
32. ———. Journey to the East. Edited by Ivan Zaknic. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987.
33. Kafescioğlu, Çiğdem, and Lucienne Thys-Şenocak. “Introduction: Modernism’s Vision, Architecture’s Past: Aptullah Kuran and the Historiography of Architecture in Turkey.” In Aptullah Kuran: Selçuklular’dan Cumhuriyet’s Türkiye’de Mimarlık/Architecture in Turkey from the Seljuks to the Republic, edited by Çiğdem Kafescioğlu and Lucienne Thys-Şenocak, XXXV-XLVII. Istanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2018.
34. Kezer, Zeynep. Building Modern Turkey: State, Space, and Ideology in the Early Republic. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015.
35. Konyalı, İbrahim Hakkı. Mimar Koca Sinan’ın Eserleri. Istanbul: Ülkü Basımevi, 1950.
36. Kuban, Doğan. “Architecture of the Ottoman Period.” In The Art and Architecture of Turkey, edited by Ekrem Akurgal, 137–169. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1980.
37. ———. Sinan’s Art and Selimiye. Istanbul: The Economic and Social History Foundation, 1997.
38. Kuran, Aptullah, “Mimar Sinan’ın Türbeleri.” Mimarbaşı Koca Sinan: Yaşadığı Çağ ve Eserleri 1, edited by Sinan Bayram, 223–238. Istanbul: Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü, 1988.
39. Necipoğlu, Gülru. “Creation of a National Genius,” in “History and Ideology: Architectural Heritage of the ‘Lands of Rum,’” edited by Sibel Bozdoğan and Gülru Necipoğlu, special issue, Muqarnas 24 (2007): 141–183.
40. ———. The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire. London: Reaktion Books, 2011.
41. Öndin, Nilüfer. Cumhuriyet’in Kültür Politikası ve Sanat 1923–1950. Istanbul: İnsancıl Yayınları, 2003. Pancaroğlu, Oya. “Formalism and the Academic Foundation of Turkish Art in the Early Twentieth Century.” in “History and Ideology: Architectural Heritage of the ‘Lands of Rum,’” edited by Sibel Bozdoğan and Gülru Necipoğlu, special issue, Muqarnas 24 (2007): 67–78.
42. Ünsal, Behçet Sabri. Turkish Islamic Architecture in Seljuk and Ottoman Times, 1071–1923. London: Alec Tiranti, 1970.
43. Wilson, Christopher S. “Representing National Identity and Memory in the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 68, no. 2 (2009): 224–253.
44. Yaltkaya, Şerefüddin, and Ali Saim Ülgen. Kara Ahmed Paşa Vakfiyesi / Topkapı’da Ahmed Paşa Heyeti. Ankara: Vakıflar Umum Müdürlüğü Neșriyatı, 1942.
45. Yetkin Suut, Kemal. Türk Mimarisi. Ankara: Bilgi Yayınevi, 1970.