The Women Who Built the Ottoman World

Muzaffer OEzgule? is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Architecture at Gaziantep University, Turkey, and was the Barakat Trust Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Khalili Research Centre at the University of Oxford from 2014 to 2015. He gained his PhD in Architectural History at Istanbul Technical University in 2013.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Ottoman Empire remained the grandest and most powerful of Middle Eastern empires. One hitherto overlooked aspect of the Empire's remarkable cultural legacy was the role of powerful women - often the head of the harem, or wives or mothers of sultans. These educated and discerning patrons left a great array of buildings across the Ottoman lands: opulent, lavish and powerful palaces and mausoleums, but also essential works for ordinary citizens, such as bridges and waterworks. Muzaffer OEzgule? here uses new primary scholarship and archaeological evidence to reveal the stories of these Imperial builders. Gulnu? Sultan for example, the favourite of the imperial harem under Mehmed IV and mother to his sons, was exceptionally pictured on horseback, travelled widely across the Middle East and Balkans, and commissioned architectural projects around the Empire. Her buildings were personal projects designed to showcase Ottoman power and they were built from Constantinople to Mecca, from modern-day Ukraine to Algeria. OEzgule? seeks to re-establish the importance of some of these buildings, since lost, and traces the history of those that remain. The Women Who Built the Ottoman World is a valuable contribution to the architectural history of the Ottoman Empire, and to the growing history of the women within it.

At the beginning of the 18th Century, the Ottoman Empire remained the grandest and most powerful of Middle Eastern Empires.

PART I Ottoman Sultana: Wife, Mother and PatronIntroduction The Forgotten Star of the Sultanate of Women 1. The Most Itinerant Sultana of the Harem:The Extraordinary Life of a Bishop's Daughter2. Building Activities of Ottoman Sultanas up toGu¨ lnus¸ SultanPART II The Building Activities of Gu¨ lnus¸ Sultan3. Conquest and Conversion: Gu¨ lnus¸ Sultan's Nameon the Frontiers4. Statement of Religiosity: Mecca and the PilgrimageRoute5. Galata New Mosque: Islamization of the Catholic Land6. Water for All: Fountains in Edirne, Galata and Beyond7. Magnum Opus: U¨ sku¨ dar Yeni Valide ComplexPART III Architectural Legacy of Ottoman Royal Women8. Building Activities of Ottoman Sultanas afterGu¨ lnus?? Sultan9. A Comparison: Where do the Buildings of Gu¨ lnus¸Sultan Stand within Ottoman Architecture?10. Epilogue: Determinants of Ottoman Royal Women'sBuilding Activities