Narratives on Architects and Builders in Turkish Culture
Mustafa Çağhan KeskinHistorical sources often do not extensively feature architects, builders, and construction workers. In particular, written texts that focus on a structure itself and the patron who commissioned it either make no mention of the builder at all or content themselves with referring to these builders with generic professional titles such as architect, master, or apprentice. Architects’ names are rarely mentioned, and even for legendary and productive architects such as Mimar Sinan, information is quite limited. In fact, Sinan stated that he had dictated his autobiographies over time to ensure he would not be forgotten. Meanwhile, oral tradition revolves around architects’ and construction builders’ daily lives, achievements, and professional challenges, even their relationships with religious-mythological elements, which are aspects often overlooked in historical sources. Fictional narratives passed down through oral tradition often draw from real events rarely reflected in written sources, deriving stories from both well-known architects and anonymous builders, characterizing a semi-fictional architect or master. In a way, oral tradition, where the structures themselves and even the narratives serve as direct sources, complements the gaps in the history of architects and builders that do not appear in historical sources. This text focuses on compiling, classifying, and researching origins through written sources, as well as comparing the narratives of architects, craftsmen, and builders that are reflected in the oral tradition within Turkish culture and that are primarily shaped around 14 different motifs. The study aims to draw a fictionalized portrait of the history of Turkish architecture.
Türk Kültüründe Mimar Anlatıları
Mustafa Çağhan KeskinTarihî kaynaklar mimar, usta ve yapı esnafına sıklıkla yer vermez. Özellikle yapının kendisi ve onu inşa ettirene, diğer bir deyişle baniye odaklanan yazılı metinler, çoğunlukla inşa edene ya hiç değinmez ya da mimar, usta, kalfa gibi anonim mesleki sıfatlarla anmakla yetinir. Mimarın adı oldukça nadir zikredilir iken Osmanlı mimarlığının en tanınmış aktörü olan Mimar Sinan gibi efsaneleşmiş kimi üretken mimarlara dair dahi oldukça sınırlı bilgi verilir. Öyle ki Sinan, otobiyografilerini; zaman içinde unutulmamak, hayırla yad edilmek için teşkil ettiğini bildirir. Sözlü gelenek ise mimar ve yapı esnafının tarihî kaynaklara çoğunlukla yansımayan gündelik hayatı, başarıları, mesleki sıkıntıları ve hatta dini-mitolojik unsurlar ile ilişkilerini konu eder. Sözlü geleneğe yansıyan kimi kurgusal anlatılar, çoğu zaman, yazılı kaynaklara nadiren yansıyan gerçek olaylara dayanır, adı sanı bilinen mimarlar ile anonim yapı esnafı ile anlatılarından beslenir ve yarı-kurgusal, hatta bazen stilize bir mimar ya da yapı ustası karakterize eder. Yapının dekor ve hatta anlatının doğrudan kaynağı olduğu sözlü gelenek bir bakıma mimar ve yapı esnafının tarihî kaynaklara yansımayan eksiklerini tamamlar. Bu metin, Türk kültüründe sözlü geleneğe yansıyan ve temelde on dört farklı motif ekseninde şekillenen mimar, usta ve yapı esnafı anlatılarının derlemesi, sınıflandırılması, yazılı kaynaklar üzerinden köken araştırması ve farklı kültürle karşılaştırılması üzerine odaklanıyor, Türk mimarlık tarihinin kurgusal bir portresini çizmeyi amaçlıyor.
One of the most recognized figures in Russian literature, Maxim Gorky stated that the true history of an ordinary person cannot be known without investigating oral folk art. In truth, historical sources often do not provide extensive details about the lives of ordinary people and their everyday experiences; they also frequently neglect to mention architects and master builders. Indeed, the names of many actors in Anatolian Turkish architecture are known only through a limited number of inscriptions, and their lives, human aspects, and professional careers are untraceable. In particular, written texts that focus on a structure itself and the patron who commissioned it either make no mention of the builder at all or content themselves with referring to this group using generic professional titles such as architect (mimar), master (usta), or apprentice (kalfa). Architects are rarely mentioned by name, and even for legendary and productive architects such as Mimar Sinan, the chief architect of the 16th-century Ottoman Empire, information is quite limited. In fact, Sinan stated that he had dictated his autobiographies Adsız Risale [The Nameless Treatise], Risâletü’l-Mi’mâriyye [Treatise on Architecture], Tuhfetü’l-Mi’mârîn [The Gifts of the Architect], Tezkiretü’l-Bünyân [Record of Construction], and Tezkiretü’l-Ebniye [Record of Buildings] to Sâî Mustafa Çelebi over time to ensure he would not be forgotten. In fact, Turkish people have built their own Mimar Sinan, with the widely recognized figure of Sinan today being a collective product of autobiographies, period sources, and oral tradition. When blended with narratives from oral tradition, the specific details reflected in historical sources about the architects and craftsmen who shaped Anatolian Turkish architecture paint a general panorama of the ordinary architect and builder. This characterization intertwines the human aspects, professional responsibilities, challenges, and goals of an anonymous architect, shaping a unique figure in the process. Oral tradition revolves around architects’ and construction builders’ daily lives, achievements, and professional challenges, even their relationships with religious-mythological elements, which are aspects often overlooked in historical sources. Fictional narratives passed down through oral tradition often draw from real events rarely reflected in written sources, deriving stories from both well-known architects and anonymous builders to characterize a semi-fictional architect, master, or apprentice. In a way, oral tradition, in which structures themselves and even the narratives serve as direct sources, complements the gaps in the history of architects and builders that do not appear in historical sources. This text focuses on compiling, classifying, and researching origins through written sources, as well as comparing the narratives of architects, craftsmen, and builders that are reflected in the oral tradition within Turkish culture. These are primarily shaped around 14 different motifs: testing the skill of the architect, sudden disappearance of the architect during construction, rewarding the architect for success, the architect or craftsman being punished for success or failure, suicide or murder due to professional ambition and competition, the architect’s unrequited love for the ruler’s daughter or relative, the non-Muslim architect or builder, the conversion of a non-Muslim architect or builder into Islam, the architect’s enslavement and captivity, the architect who achieves sainthood/the saint as architect or builder, the supernatural creature as an architects, the building that demands a sacrifice from the architect/the architect who offers a sacrifice, the covetousness/greed of the architect/builder, and the ruler as architect/the ruler’s involvement in the architectural process. The study aims to draw a fictionalized portrait of the history of Turkish architecture.
Although the many common motifs that shape these narratives have counterparts outside the Turkish cultural sphere such as in Europe, the diversity in the professional processes and challenges and in the perceptions of ordinary people toward architects and craftsmen is evident across various societies, despite cross-cultural interactions. The motif of testing the skill of the architect (i.e., proving one’s competence) is constructed in Turkish culture and European culture with the episode of standing an egg upright on a marble surface. While addressed in the Shahnameh [The Book of Kings], written by the 11th-century Persian poet Ferdowsi, the motif of the sudden disappearance of the architect during construction became part of Turkish culture, especially after the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul in the 15th century, through widespread tales about Hagia Sophia that were adapted to various structures in Istanbul and other provinces. The motif of rewarding the architect for success is not often found in oral tradition, as it is considered a natural occurrence. The motif of the architect or craftsman being punished for success or failure is a common theme in both Islamic and European cultures. The legend of the mythical Byzantine architect Sinimmar, who built the Khawarnaq Palace for the Sassanid Prince Bahram Gur by order of Nu’man, the Lakhmid king, was characterized in the epic story Haft Paykar [Seven Portraits] by 12th-century Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi. This legend entered Turkish culture and involved the punishment of the architect (e.g., being killed, losing the ability to practice the profession) for not constructing a more beautiful building. While the motif of suicide or murder due to professional ambition and competition often depicts the rivalry between master and apprentice, it also consistently portrays a competition where the apprentice emerges victorious. The defeated master either commits suicide or murders the apprentice. Although suicide is not a common theme in Islamic culture, it is frequently found in both the competition and love motifs. Inspired by the famous romantic tale Ferhad and Shirin, written by 15th century Timurid statesman and poet Ali Shir Nava’i, architects or craftsmen in legends often nurture unrequited love for the ruler’s daughter or relative and sometimes is entwined with the rivalry between two architects or craftsmen. The plot often concludes with the architect or craftsman using his construction tool (just as in Ferhad and Shirin) to commit suicide. The discomfort of the public toward a non-Muslim architect or builder is a theme mostly found in legends in Türkiye and the Balkans where non-Muslim elements had been involved in architectural processes during the Seljuk and Ottoman eras. Various structural flaws are sometimes attributed to the non-Muslim architect, builder, or craftsman, who is sometimes characterized as an evil person who wants to sabotage the structure. The motif of the conversion of a non-Muslim architect or builder to Islam aims to alleviate the discomfort felt towards them through their conversion to Islam in some way. The architect, builder, or craftsman converts to Islam, usually through the miracle of a Muslim saint, and the structure gains a kind of legitimacy. The theme of the architect’s enslavement and captivity has been extensively explored in written sources, though not often addressed in oral tradition. The motif of the architect who achieves sainthood/the saint as architect or builder is a common theme in legends. The structure that serves as the backdrop for the legend becomes somewhat sanctified once the architect achieves enlightenment or when a saint or several wild animals through the miracle of a saint participate in its construction. Unusual structures that are difficult to construct, especially those that draw attention with their size, are explained by the involvement of supernatural beings such as giants, jinn, angels, and al-Khidr in the construction. The sacrifice motif in particular is used to describe how the architect, builder, or craftsman pays some price in order to be able to construct a very difficult structure. Therefore, the motif of the building that demands a sacrifice from the architect/the architect who offers a sacrifice can be said to be related to the tradition of carrying out a sacrifice before starting the construction of a building in current contexts. Sometimes, oral traditions or stories explore the motif of the architect’s covetousness/greed, while others emphasize the opposite theme of contentment for some sacred structures. Narratives related to rulers who are involved in architecture, who engage in the design process, or who imitate the architect are generally based on real events reflected in written sources; however, these have also been transferred through oral tradition because of their intriguing nature. While these narratives demonstrate rulers’ ability to engage in architecture, the idea of architects becoming rulers has never been explored. Only the Hagia Sophia tales have a reference to the possibility of an architect becoming a ruler, wherein the Emperor kills the architect of the holy temple because the ruler thought the people who believed the building had been constructed with God’s help would accept the architect as their new ruler.
At the core of the narratives and tales on architects and builders, a very important monumental structure is always present. The structure serves as both the backdrop and main actor of the narrative. Tales revolving around architects and masters are often derived from structures such as Hagia Sophia and the Süleymaniye in Istanbul, the Selimiye in Edirne, and the Grand Mosque in Divriği. Specifically, legends about Hagia Sophia and Selimiye through the influence of Byzantine narratives have been adapted and sometimes even served as the source for written narratives about various structures in Türkiye. The popularity of Hagia Sophia tales in the Ottoman context has led to these narratives being adapted to Selimiye, establishing a mythical connection between Hagia Sophia’s architects and Mimar Sinan. Sinan is undoubtedly the most mythologized architect, not only in Türkiye but likely around the globe. Almost all motifs that shape legends about architects and masters in Türkiye have been incorporated into the legendary corpus surrounding Sinan. In this sense, the persona of the architect, builder, and master, often an anonymous character in tales told for various structures across Türkiye, can be said to transcend beyond anonymity and take form within the identity of Sinan.
