The Tomb of Mimar Sinan

Istanbul · Turkiet · Cemetery

The empire's greatest architect lies headless — his skull was lifted from the grave in 1935 to be measured and never put back.

In a corner of the Süleymaniye Mosque he built himself, Mimar Sinan lies buried under a small open canopy of his own design. The grave was opened in 1935. Three men from the Turkish Historical Society had been granted permission to measure the architect's skull in order to prove his ancestry — the skull-measuring science of the age at its ugliest. The cranium was taken up and carried to Ankara for examination. It was never put back. Modern ground radar has confirmed what rumour had claimed for ninety years: the head is missing from the tomb. What became of it after the measurements nobody knows. Some say it was lost in museum storage, others that it passed into private hands, and the most bitter that it was never meant to be returned. The tomb stands open to the street, exactly as he wanted it.

FAQ

Hvor ligger The Tomb of Mimar Sinan?

The Tomb of Mimar Sinan ligger i Istanbul, Turkiet.