Süleymaniye Camii The Mosque of Sultan SolomonWhen you go to Washington D.C. you see presidential monuments, when you go to Venice you see gondolas, and when you go to İstanbul you see mosques. One of the most important mosques, both because of who it was built by—the great architect, Mimar Sinan—and for whom it was built—Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent—is known as Süleymaniye Camii. Built on a campus once containing a hospital, soup kitchen, schools, and more, this imperial mosque has been preserved to this day representing a deep-seated religious tradition and the remnants of a glorious world force known as the Ottoman Empire. We see growing in Turkey a renewed interest in both of these elements, the latter most recently popularized by a televised drama series known as Mühteşem Yüzyıl, Magnificent Centry, which depicts the daily-life and intrigues of Sultan Süleyman and his harem. The show is hugely popular and yet controversial, criticized for disrespectfully and indecently representing the great Sultan and his female entourage. One thing is for sure, the Turkish populace is starting to wonder what really happened in her past. And what is wonderful about that is there’s tangible traces for them to see: the mosque he ordered to be built, a mausoleum where he and his harem favorite, Roxelana, were buried, and a myriad of artifacts scattered throughout the once sprawling empire.
The mausoleum of Hürrem Sultan, otherwise known as Roxelana.
