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EDITOR'S NOTE:
Over 30 years ago architect David Macaulay began showing the world how great structures were built and how they fit into the societies that built them, with his debut of Cathedral. The Mosque is his most recent exploration of architecture and culture. While not a primer on Islam, it does provide an interesting perspective on the people who built and worshipped in the mosque described and illustrated in this fictional account.��
We are pleased to bring you this review of Mosque and share with you a look at the unique work of David Macaulay.
Mosque by David Macaulay
A Book Review
Author and illustrator David Macaulay has succeeded again with his latest installment in his architectural series for children. Macaulay's Mosque offers an in-depth look at the materials used to design and erect a mosque in late 16th-century Turkey. With wonderfully detailed illustrations, Macaulay transports the reader back in time to witness the step-by-step construction of the mosque.
Macaulay explains the construction of the mosque using the fictional story of retired Admiral Suha Mehmet Pasa. Admiral Pasa decides to build a mosque as a demonstration of his faith. Architect Akif Agha is hired by the admiral to design a series of charitable buildings with the mosque as the structure's centerpiece. Other buildings that accompany the mosque include a school, public bath, fountains, kitchen, and tomb. The mosque featured in the book is based on actual, existing structures created by the famous Ottoman architect Sinan, who worked in the 16th-century.
Macualay's fictional story is seamlessly interwoven with technical terms and procedures used in architecture as well as Islamic cultural background. For example, the reader will learn that the cultural term kulliye is the complex of buildings associated with a charitable foundation and its mosque. Readers will also become familiar with architectural terms, such as pendentive, which is a concave support built from a corner to help form a circular base for the dome above. A full glossary of terms is provided at the end of the text.��
The reader should, however, be aware that the Mosque is not an introduction to Islam. To fully understand the importance and significance of the mosque structure and to get a better picture of the story's setting, the reader would want to have a basic knowledge of the religion. The Mosque is appropriate nonfiction reading for children ages nine and above.�
Macaulay's book has received much praise. Booklist gave the Mosque a starred review, saying, "Macaulay offers an unusual, inspiring perspective into Islamic society that's removed from the charged headlines, and, as in all his work, he conveys a contagious awe and wonder at the feats of design and engineering that societies have accomplished." In addition, the Association for Library Service to Children listed the Mosque in the "2004 Notable Children's Books for Older Readers."�
In an interview conducted by Houghton Mifflin Books in June 2003, Macaulay discussed his inspiration for the Mosque:
"I first considered creating a book about the building of a mosque when I was doing the architecture books back in the seventies, but I just ran out of steam on the series and wanted to try something else. Twenty-five years later, September 11 happened.
"I've always tried to make books I thought would be useful. This time I wanted to make one I thought might actually be needed. Not so much because it would explain the differences between people but rather because it might remind us of the similarities.
"Great architecture seems to bring out the best in people, not only in those who create it but also in those who use it and are moved by it. It doesn't matter where in the world we encounter the finest buildings. They often have a universal appeal, an emotional as well as an intellectual one that goes way beyond their inherent respect for gravity."
In the interview, Macaulay also spoke about particular features of Ottoman architecture that he admires:
"The tradition that stands out the most is that of orienting the mosque toward Mecca through establishing the kibla -- an imaginary line that links the faithful either as individuals or as a congregation inside a prayer hall to the holiest of Islamic cities. The most striking result of this is that most of the mosques don't follow the geometry of the surrounding streets or buildings. The detail that stands out the most would have to be the dome. Large or small, grand or humble, the hemisphere is the roof of choice on almost all the buildings associated with any mosque complex," said Macaulay.
Mosque - Introduction
By the middle of the sixteenth century, the Ottomans had built the largest Muslim empire in the world. With superior forces on land and sea, a series of sultans had extended its borders from Algiers in the west to Baghdad in the east, from the outskirts of Vienna in the north to beyond Mecca in the south. With the establishment of military dominance came the inevitable building of trade and cultural links, and with these spread the message of Islam and its five pillars � faith, prayer, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage.
One indication of the empire's unrivaled power was the phenomenal wealth that found its way into the sultan's treasury as well as into the pockets of Istanbul's most influential citizens. For these individuals, however, adherence to the principle of charity was further encouraged by laws that prevented the bequeathing of one's entire fortune to one�s children. It became a well-established practice, therefore, for the richest members of society to endow charitable foundations to channel their personal wealth into a variety of religious, educational, social, and civic activities. In addition to a new mosque, these foundations would require a number of specific buildings all grouped into an architectural complex called a kulliye.All of the great Ottoman buildings of the second half of the sixteenth century either were mosques or belonged to their adjacent kulliyes.
Remarkably, most of these buildings were the work of one man, an engineer and architect named Sinan. As chief court architect for almost fifty years, Sinan, along with his assistants, designed and oversaw the construction of buildings, bridges, and aqueducts all across the empire. By the time of his death at the age of one hundred, he had personally served as architect for some three hundred structures in Istanbul alone.
By Sinan's time, the basic form of the Ottoman mosque was well established. It consisted of an open prayer hall -- ideally a perfect cube covered by an equally perfect hemisphere-shaped dome, a covered portico, an arcaded courtyard similar in area to the prayer hall itself, a fountain, a slender minaret (usually more than one if the mosque was built by royalty). Over time the domed cube became the standard form for all the buildings of a kulliye, regardless of their function.
While the high domes and minarets of the various mosques of Istanbul served as beacons for those wishing to pray or simply to find temporary refuge from the chaos of city life, the countless rows of smaller domes belonging to the kulliyes must have provided a reassuring sense of order in the midst of an often disorienting maze of crooked streets and disappearing alleys.
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About the Author
David Macaulay received a bachelor's degree in architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design. He is the author and illustrator of many exciting and unusual books for readers of all ages, including Building Big, the companion book to the successful PBS Series, the international bestseller The New Way Things Work, Caldecott Medal-winner Black and White, and Caldecott Honor Award-winners Castle and Cathedral. Superb design, magnificent illustrations, and clearly presented information distinguish all of his books. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Mr. Macaulay lives and works in Rhode Island. He published his first book, Cathedral, in 1973.
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