ISSN: 0041-4255
e-ISSN: 2791-6472

Mehmet Arman Güran, Ayşe Zekiye Abalı

Keywords: Melchior Lorichs, Mimar Sinan, İstanbul, Constantinopolis, Sultan Süleyman

Abstract

The panorama of Istanbul, by Melchior Lorichs, titled "Byzantium sive Constantinopolis", dating 1559 is housed in the Library of Leiden University. It is the first visual document reflecting the Ottoman identity of the city attained in the hands of (Mimar) Sinan the Architect during the reign of Sultan Süleyman after a hundred years of Ottoman rule. A frequently mentioned aspect of the picture is that, the artist added himself to the picture, while working on the picture with another person next to him. The person in Ottoman outfits and helping Lorichs is assumed to be a generic figure. In this article the identity of the Ottoman figure is to be questioned. Considering the context of the time, together with analysis of the composition and details, it is concluded that the person next to the artist is Mimar Sinan.