HISTORY

The Süleymaniye University (called kulliyah traditionally) which was built by the chief royal architect, Sinan the Great for Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, and which was completed in 1549-1557 is one of the masterpieces, probably the foremost one, of the Ottoman architecture. It is composed of several parts including the Mosque, The House of the Recitators (of the Qur’an), the Primary School, the First, Second, Third and Fourth Faculties, The Medical Faculty, The Hospital, The House of Banquet, The House of Rest; The House of the Prophetic Traditions; Bathroom, the humble tomb of the Sinan the Architect; the houses of Night Guards located over the Gates of the Mosque; Tombs of Süleyman and Hürrem Sultan, Cemetery at the qiblah of the mosque.

The process of the transformation from faculty to library was set in motion after 1918 during which the foundation libraries once established in several parts of Istanbul were incorporated in the First and Second Faculties of the University. Our library, which derives its name from the books carried to library from their original place in the private sections of the Süleymaniye Mosque, was basically founded in 1583. The number of collections it includes amounted to 131, 117 of which belong to the Ottoman era. Among them are those from Sultan, the Chief Jurisconsult (Shaykh al-Islam), the Chief Military Judge (Kazasker), Valide Sultan (Queen Mother), Ağa (Brigadier General), Pasha (Full General), Reisül-Küttab (Minister of Foreign Affairs), seminary, mystical lodges and courts, foundation, private and mosque libraries.

Süleymaniye Library as an institution holding manuscripts and precious printed works, main sources of Turkish and Islamic Culture, renders worldwide service for native and foreign researchers. The best examples of our traditional arts, such as book binding, illumination, miniatures, calligraphy, marbling, framed inscription, are available in our library.