The Women Who Built the Ottoman World: Female Patronage and the Architectural Legacy of Gulnus Sultan by Muzzafer Ozgules: A Book Review
The Women Who Built The Ottoman World: Female Patronage and the Architectural Legacy of Gulnus Sultan Author: Muzaffer Ozgules Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: I. B. Taurus Release Date: 2017 Pages: 441 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Ottoman Empire remained the grandest and most powerful of Middle Eastern empires. One hitherto overlooked aspect of the Empire's remarkable cultural legacy was the role of powerful women - often the head of the harem, or wives or mothers of sultans. These educated and discerning patrons left a great array of buildings across the Ottoman lands: opulent, lavish and powerful palaces and mausoleums, but also essential works for ordinary citizens, such as bridges and waterworks. Muzaffer Ozgules here uses new primary scholarship and archaeological evidence to reveal the stories of these Imperial builders. Gulnus Sultan for example, the favourite of the imperial harem under Mehmed IV and ...