Godfrey Goodwin. A history of Ottoman architecture (1971)

Godfrey Goodwin. A history of Ottoman architecture. “Baltimore, MD; London”: “Johns Hopkins Press; Thames and Hudson”, 1971, 511 p. ISBN 080181202X, ISBN 0500340404

This book, the outcome of ten years’ research, is the first comprehensive survey of Ottoman architecture in English and the lust to deal seriously with the buildings of the last two centuries. The author treats his subject chronologically and in its historical perspective, with the necessary references to Byzantine, Persian and Selçuk examples and with full discussion of the effects of conquests, religion and social organization. Not only are mosques described, but also the layout and function of the buildings which came to be grouped around the mosques: schools, baths, hostels, kitchens, fountains, mausoleums, shops. Fortifications, waterworks and bridges are also considered.

During the seventeenth century there was an advance in civil architecture. The Tulip Period of Ahmet III is seen as a forerunner of Anatolian Baroque — a period which has previously been much neglected, and yet had considerable influence on the Romantic movements of the West and for many Europeans epitomized the architecture of the Sultanate. Revivalism and Art Nouveau are also discussed, and the final chapter is concerned with domestic architecture and the Ottoman concept of the town.

The book will appeal to the general reader interested in Islamic art as well as to the architectural historian. Buildings are described with a minimum of technical terminology; Turkish words arc explained in a glossary; there is a chronological table listing Ottoman rulers and the relevant historical events, together with detailed notes and an extensive bibliography. Godfrey Goodwin, who will already be known to specialists through his articles, was until recently Assistant Professor of Art and Architectural History at Robert College, Istanbul.