Sinan Pasha Mosque, Istanbul

Sinan Pasha Camii in Beşiktaş, on the European shore of the Bosphorus, was built by the architect Sinan for Sinan Pasha — brother of the grand vezir Rüstem Pasha and chief admiral of the Ottoman fleet under Süleyman the Magnificent; inscriptions on the şadırvan and portal date its completion to A.H. 963 (1555–6), two years after its founder's death ¹.

Freely describes its plan as essentially a copy of Üç Şerefeli Cami in Edirne (1447): the central dome rests on six arches, one set in the south wall and the rest on four piers — two rectangular to the north, two hexagonal east and west — with two domed side bays beyond; here, though, Sinan added a five-bayed narthex-like porch ². Freely finds the proportions ungainly and the interior squat and heavy, judging that Sinan was less successful when directly copying an older building at a smaller scale ².

• Source read: Freely, A History of Ottoman Architecture (2011), pp. 296–297 (Sinan Pasha Camii).
• The Hijri date 963 is from the portal inscription as reported by Freely.