Lecture 1.

Timothy Allen’s talk starts with the enslavement of Sinan as a Janissary under Selim the Grim in 1512. Sinan prospered and was appointed Royal Chief Architect by Suleyman the Magnificent. Tim reviews the development of Islamic architecture for context. Sinan’s output was prolific; he built three vast Imperial Friday mosques, as well as smaller mosques, hamams, mausolea, bridges and aqueducts. He was based in Istanbul, but worked in Jerusalem, Mecca and Damascus. His career was intimately tied to the life and death dramas of the Sultan’s family. He worked until he was 97, and died aged 99, still a slave. His legacy is the Ottoman style of mosque, relevant in today’s Turkey.

Lecture 2.

Tim starts with a historical context for Constantinople and for the site of Hagia Sophia. He covers the destruction of the previous churches and shows how Justinian chose a radical new design for his church. The incredible speed of construction is described, as is the unparalleled magnificence and beauty of the finished building. Its splendour helped initiate Russian orthodoxy. Tim describes fires, riots, rebellions, iconoclasm, excommunication, sackings and conquest by Islam. Great figures such as Constantine, St John Chrysostom, Justinian, the Doge of Venice, Mehmet the Conqueror, several Sultans and Ataturk are woven into the story.