ARCHITECTS from Türkiye

Top 8

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Turkish Architects of all time. This list of famous Turkish Architects is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Mimar Sinan (1490 - 1588)

With an HPI of 80.56, Mimar Sinan is the most famous Turkish Architect.  His biography has been translated into 122 different languages on wikipedia.

Mimar Sinan (Ottoman Turkish: معمار سينان, romanized: Mi'mâr Sinân; Turkish: Mimar Sinan, pronounced [miːˈmaːɾ siˈnan]; c. 1488/1490 – 17 July 1588) also known as Koca Mi'mâr Sinân Âğâ, ("Sinan Agha the Grand Architect" or "Grand Sinan") was the chief Ottoman architect, engineer and mathematician for sultans Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II and Murad III. He was responsible for the construction of more than 300 major structures, including the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, the Kanuni Sultan Suleiman Bridge in Büyükçekmece, and the Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge in Višegrad, as well as other more modest projects such as madrasa's, külliyes, and bridges. His apprentices would later design the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul and the Stari Most bridge in Mostar. The son of a stonemason, he received a technical education and became a military engineer. He rose rapidly through the ranks to become first an officer and finally a Janissary commander, with the honorific title of Sinan. He refined his architectural and engineering skills while on campaign with the Janissaries, becoming expert at constructing fortifications of all kinds, as well as military infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges and aqueducts. At about the age of fifty, he was appointed as chief royal architect, applying the technical skills he had acquired in the army to the "creation of fine religious buildings" and civic structures of all kinds. He remained in this post for almost fifty years. His masterpiece is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, although his most famous work is the Suleiman Mosque in Istanbul. He headed an extensive governmental department and trained many assistants who, in turn, distinguished themselves; these include Sedefkar Mehmed Agha, architect of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque and Mimar Hayruddin, architect of the Stari Most. He is considered the greatest architect of the classical period of Ottoman architecture and has been compared to Michelangelo, his contemporary in the West. Michelangelo and his plans for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome were well known in Istanbul, since Leonardo da Vinci and he had been invited, in 1502 and 1505 respectively, by the Sublime Porte to submit plans for a bridge spanning the Golden Horn. Mimar Sinan's works are among the most influential buildings in history.

2. Hippodamus of Miletus (-498 - -408)

With an HPI of 72.09, Hippodamus of Miletus is the 2nd most famous Turkish Architect.  His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Hippodamus of Miletus (; Greek: Ἱππόδαμος ὁ Μιλήσιος, Hippodamos ho Milesios; c.480–408 BC) was an ancient Greek architect, urban planner, physician, mathematician, meteorologist and philosopher, who is considered to be "the father of European urban planning", and the namesake of the "Hippodamian plan" (grid plan) of city layout, although rectangular city plans were in use by the ancient Greeks as early as the 8th c. BC. Hippodamus was born in Miletus and lived during the 5th century BC. His father was Euryphon. According to Aristotle, Hippodamus was the first author who wrote upon the theory of government, without any knowledge of practical affairs. His plans of Greek cities were characterised by order and regularity in contrast to the intricacy and confusion common to cities of that period, even Athens. He is seen as the originator of the idea that a town plan might formally embody and clarify a rational social order. However, as cities were built with orthogonal plans centuries before his birth, he cannot be the originator of the concept.

3. Isidore of Miletus (442 - 537)

With an HPI of 69.18, Isidore of Miletus is the 3rd most famous Turkish Architect.  His biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

Isidore of Miletus (Greek: Ἰσίδωρος ὁ Μιλήσιος; Medieval Greek pronunciation: [iˈsiðoros o miˈlisios]; Latin: Isidorus Miletus) was one of the two main Byzantine Greek mathematician, physicist and architects (Anthemius of Tralles was the other) that Emperor Justinian I commissioned to design the cathedral Hagia Sophia in Constantinople from 532 to 537. He was born c. 475 AD. The creation of an important compilation of Archimedes' works has been attributed to him. The spurious Book XV from Euclid's Elements has been partly attributed to Isidore of Miletus.

4. Sostratus of Cnidus (-290 - -260)

With an HPI of 67.89, Sostratus of Cnidus is the 4th most famous Turkish Architect.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Sostratus of Cnidus (; Ancient Greek: Σώστρατος ὁ Κνίδος; born 3rd century BC) was a Greek architect and engineer. He is said to have designed the lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (c. 280 BC), on the island of Pharos off Alexandria, Egypt. This claim is disputed. Strabo writes that the lighthouse was dedicated and presumably funded by Sostratus, a friend of Egypt's ruler, Ptolemy. Pliny says that Sostratus was the architect and that Ptolemy graciously allowed him to "sign" the monument.

5. Hermogenes of Priene (-200 - -200)

With an HPI of 60.06, Hermogenes of Priene is the 5th most famous Turkish Architect.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Hermogenes of Priene (late 3rd - early 2nd century BC) was a Hellenistic architect, best known for designing a temple of Artemis Leukophryene (Artemision) at Magnesia in Lydia, an Ionian colony on the banks of the Maeander river in Anatolia.

6. Kadir Topbaş (1945 - 2021)

With an HPI of 55.06, Kadir Topbaş is the 6th most famous Turkish Architect.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Kadir Topbaş (8 January 1945 – 13 February 2021) was a Turkish architect, businessman and politician who served as Mayor of Istanbul from 2004 to 2017.

7. Toros Toramanian (1864 - 1934)

With an HPI of 53.95, Toros Toramanian is the 7th most famous Turkish Architect.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Toros Toramanian (Armenian: Թորոս Թորամանեան; 1864 – March 1, 1934) was a prominent Armenian architect and architectural historian. He is considered "the father of Armenian architectural historiography." Christina Maranci credited him with "establishing the practical foundation for the study of Armenian architecture with his "extensive field work, measurements, plans, and photographs."

8. Gülsün Sağlamer (b. 1945)

With an HPI of 49.66, Gülsün Sağlamer is the 8th most famous Turkish Architect.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Gülsün Sağlamer (born in 1945) is a Turkish academic, the third female rector in Turkey.