Historical and Architectural Importance
[Picture source: © 2006 Stefan Weber] [Picture source: © 2006 Stefan Weber] On the urban scale, the building commission of Behram Pasha in Aleppo has followed the Ottoman urban strategy in developing the central commercial zone, more particularly the main thoroughfare extending east-west from the citadel to the Antioch Gate. In the same time, it also initiated a new trend in developing the northwestern suburbs which were economically important, but so far un-patronized in the Ottoman period. This decision was interpreted by some researchers to be a result of the large-scale building campaigns of the 16th century in the commercial zone where the available areas were diminishing and the properties values were rising forcing the constructions out. [20] However, the quarter of al-Jdayde had begun to flourish as a major center of industry, in particular silk and cloth weaving industries since the late 15th century offering great potentials for urban interventions. [21]
The architectural importance of Behram Pasha’s mosque appears in the deepness of the regional and local influences which goes beyond the decoration program or building techniques to include new architectural elements applied for the first time in the city. It is a mosque that has been claimed by David as “the beginning of decentralization of influence”. [22] This was clear through the usage of unusual five-sided iwan and the two side large iwans, features that have been argued by researchers to have local and regional origins rather than central ones. In fact, the mosque cannot be evaluated without putting in the same context with its closer local and regional examples; al-Adiliyya and the patron’s mosque in Diyarbakir, as they all show the developing of the same typology. On the decorative scale, the mosque exhibits a further step in the process of the Ottoman appropriation of the local architectural repertoire of the city. In the precedent mosques of Husrev Pasha and al-Adiliyya the usage of the local decorative elements was limited to the most recent period which was the late Mamluk. However, in Behram Pasha’s mosque elements from early Mamluk and Ayyubid periods were used. The design of the portals, windows and the mihrab reverted strongly to these local styles.
By the end of the 16th century, the central influence on every provincial mosque was a natural result of the organization of architectural activity in the Empire. The imperial architectural office was responsible for the design and execution of the architectural projects of the imperial family and the ruling elite in both the capital and the provinces. The imperial ateliers took part in varying degrees in the design and construction of provincial works. For Sultanic constructions, court architects might be sent from the capital. Buildings for lesser patrons were more likely to be entrusted to local architects and craftsmen, though they might be provided with plans from the imperial atelier. [23] However, as was shown in the analysis of Behram Pasha’ mosque, an additional level of influence started to be visible on the regional scale, especially between the two main centers Aleppo and Diyarbakir. The patronage factor may have played an important role in this level. The rotation of the governors among the cities of the region enabled them to be familiar with the local traditional building techniques and closer to the local masons and workshops. In fact, two of Aleppo’s main patrons in the 16th century, Husrev Pasha and Behram Pasha governed Diyarbakir and established complexes there. Although future research is still needed to confirm this role, Necipoglu has already cited two examples of regional architectural interact. The first case was in Sokollu Mehmet Pasha’s complex in Payas (1580s) where architects and masons from Aleppo had participated in the construction. [24] The second case was when Behram Pasha himself imported skilled builders and marble cutters from Gaza, his birthplace, and from Jerusalem in order to replicate the elegant baths he had seen in the Arab lands. Therefore, she suggested that Behram Pasha may have seen al-Adiliyya Mosque in Aleppo and asked Sinan to design one like it in Diyarbakir. [25]
Al-Bahramiyya mosque was the last example of a dynamic interacts among the local, regional and central influences which shaped the Ottoman architecture in city during the 16th century. Had the building campaign in Aleppo continued with the same flourishing pace in the following century, this interact would have produced more examples of distinguished provincial Ottoman architecture.
Footnotes
[20] Raymond, Les grands waqfs, 116.
[21] For more details on the history of the neighborhood and its socio-economic structure see David, Le waqf d'Ipshir Pasha a Alep, 60-67
[22] David, Domaines et Limites de l'architecture d'empire, 183.
[23] For more information on the organization of architecture and construction activities in the provinces of the Ottoman Empire during the classical period look Necipoğlu, The Age of Sinan, 157-161 and Kafesçioğlu, In the Image of Rum, 82-84.
[24] Necipoğlu, The Age of Sinan, 360.
[25] Necipoğlu, The Age of Sinan, 468.
