Historical and Architectural Importance
[Picture source: © 1981 Jean-Claude David] [Picture source: © 1981 Jean-Claude David] Before detailing the architectural value of al-‘Adiliyya Mosque, it is worth discussing the role that the complex of Mohammed Pasha has played in the urban life of the city. The complex has been considered by some researchers as initiating the Ottoman urban strategy of developing the central commercial zone along its historic east-west artery and creating what Watenpaugh has called the “Ottoman monumental corridor”. [18] This strategy was accentuated in the following decades by the complexes of Sokollu Mohammed Pasha (1574) and Behram Pasha (1583). However, the analysis of the complex’s location, the setting of its commercial and the direction of its suqs suggest that Mohammed Pasha followed the strategy of Husrev Pasha in locating his complex close to the city’s center of power, the governor’s palace, and developing its surrounding area. The compact and contiguous arrangement of the complex’s structures was achieved by taking over and dismantling some of previous structures located on the site, in addition to appropriating the open Mamluk square. [19]
The symbolic connotation of occupying a site rich in associations with the previous ruling group has been particularly noted. [20] The income-generating structures which were exclusively devoted to the support of trade and manufacture, was recognition of the rising importance of Aleppo as a center of regional and international trade and provided infrastructure for the increasing number of merchants and consulates established in the city. Therefore, the complex of Mohammed Pasha had an enormous impact on Aleppo in urban and functional aspects.
With its cubic prayer hall, hemispherical dome, and cylindrical minaret, al-‘Adiliyya mosque shows broad design similarities with the first Ottoman mosque in Aleppo, al-Khusrawiyya, which introduced a totally new architectural style to the city and set a model for the mosques built in the following decades. Though smaller in dimensions, al-‘Adiliyya nevertheless excels al-Khusrawiyya in terms of design innovations, the quality of construction, the graceful proportions, the quality of building materials and the exquisite ornamentation. The double portico and the Ottoman ablution fountain were unprecedented in Aleppo at that time, while the prayer hall presented strong space articulation, with its deep recesses, large muqarnas corbels, ashlar walls and rich decorative elements.
The architectural value of al-‘Adiliyya Mosque increases when put within the regional context and sheds light on the Ottoman architectural approach in the provinces: a hybrid of design innovations imported from the capital and local building techniques that imbued structures with a distinctive regional character. Many design similarities such as the use of double porticos, plans with deep recesses and upper galleries can be noted in other mosques designed by Sinan and close in date and location to al-‘Adiliyya such as Sultan Suleiman Mosque in Damascus (1553-58), Behram Pasha Mosque in Diyarbakir (1565-73) (Fig.34) and Haci Ahmed Pasha Mosque in Kayseri (1576-86) (Fig. 35). [21]
Figure 34: The plan and northern façade of Behram Pasha Mosque in Diyarbakir (1565-1573) [Picture source: © 2010 Necipoglu, Age of Sinan p. 466] 
Figure 35: The plan and eastern façade of Haci Ahmed Pasha Mosque in Kayseri (1576-1586) [Picture source: © 2010 Necipoglu, Age of Sinan p. 453] However, each of these mosques shows a clear indigenous affiliation in decorative details and building techniques. The geographical and chronological proximity of these mosques suggest a steady and rapid transfer of ideas, and perhaps architects in the region. This seems most evident in the case of Behram Pasha Mosque in Diyarbakir (Fig. 36, 37, 38, 39) because of its striking design affinities of al-‘Adiliyya and the fact that some of these architectural features returned to Aleppo through his mosque, al-Bahramiyya, built in 1583. As a result, it can be said that, though al-‘Adiliyya Mosque was evidently planned from the capital, its design solutions and decorative features show a developed provincial and local identity (Fig, 40).
Footnotes
[18] Watenpaugh, The Image of an Ottoman City, 234-237, Necipoğlu, The Age of Sinan, 475.
[19] For more information on the previous structures located in the site, see Ibn al-Hanbali, Durr al-Habab, 2:1, 263-264, Watenpaugh, The Image of an Ottoman City, 79-80, Necipoğlu, The Age of Sinan, 476.
[20] Watenpaugh, The Image of an Ottoman City, 79-80.
[21] For more details on these similarities see Necipoğlu, The Age of Sinan, 227-228, 453-455, and 466-469.
