Architecture of Turkey

The architecture of Turkey includes heritage from the ancient era of Anatolia to the present day. Significant remains from the Greco-Roman period are located throughout the country. The Byzantine period produced, among other monuments, the celebrated Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). Following the arrival of the Seljuk Turks in the 11th century, Seljuk architecture mixed Islamic architecture with other styles of local architecture in Anatolia. The Ottoman Empire ushered in a centuries-long tradition of Ottoman architecture up until the early 20th century.

In the first years of the Turkish republic (after 1923), Turkish architecture was influenced by earlier Seljuk and Ottoman architecture, in particular during the First National Architectural Movement (also called the Turkish Neoclassical architecture movement). However, starting from the 1930s, architectural styles began to differ from traditional architecture, also as a result of an increasing number of foreign architects being invited to work in the country, mostly from Germany and Austria. The Second World War was a period of isolation, during which the Second National Architectural Movement emerged. Similar to Fascist architecture, the movement aimed to create a modern but nationalistic architecture.

From the 1950s the nation became more internationally connected, which enabled Turkish architects to experiment with new styles and become increasingly inspired by their counterparts in the rest of the world. However, they were largely constrained by the lack of technological infrastructure or insufficient financial resources until the 1980s. Thereafter, the liberalization of the economy and the shift towards export-led growth paved the way for the private sector to become the leading influence on architecture in Turkey.

The ancient Greeks founded many city-states along the Aegean shores in western Anatolia and beyond. During the Hellenistic period, the Kingdom of Pergamon was one of the most powerful and the site of the city of Pergamon is one of Turkey's UNESCO World Heritage Sites today. Anatolia continued to prosper in the Roman era and cities such as Ephesus and Sardis, in addition to Pergamon, grew considerably during this time. Many of the Greco-Roman sites in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions of present-day Turkey thus preserve substantially, if not primarily, Roman constructions.

The Byzantine era followed the division of the old Roman Empire into eastern and western halves in the late 4th century. The Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, had its capital at Constantinople, present-day Istanbul. Byzantine architecture started as a continuation of late Roman architecture but it further developed over the following millennium. The Hagia Sophia, a massive domed church completed in 537 under Justinian I, is the greatest achievement of Byzantine architecture. It exercised significant influence on subsequent Byzantine church architecture and eventually on Ottoman architecture. The Byzantine style is also known for its sophisticated mosaic art. A major example of this art in the late Byzantine period is the 14th-century Chora Church (present-day Kariye Mosque) in Istanbul.

Architecture under the Anatolian Seljuks incorporated an eclectic mix of influences, adopting local Byzantine, Armenian, and Georgian elements and combining them with designs from Islamic Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Central Asia. Their monuments were largely built in dressed stone, with brick used for minarets. Decoration was concentrated around certain elements like entrance portals and took the form of elaborate stone carving (e.g. the Ince Minareli Medrese and the Divriği complex), occasional ablaq stonework (e.g. Alâeddin Mosque in Konya), and large surfaces covered in tilework (e.g. Karatay Medrese).

As Anatolia fragmented into Beyliks during the later 13th and 14th centuries, architecture became even more diverse, particularly in western Anatolia, where proximity to the Byzantine and Mediterranean worlds encouraged further experimentation and syncretism.

The architecture of the early Ottomans experimented with different building types, including single-domed mosques, multi-domed buildings, and religious buildings with T-shaped floor plans. This eventually evolved into the Classical Ottoman style that was consolidated during the 16th and 17th centuries. This style, drawing strong influence from the Hagia Sophia, produced grand imperial mosques designed around a central dome and a varying number of semi-domes. This period is also associated with the most famous Ottoman architect, Mimar Sinan (d. 1588). Among his over 300 designs across the empire, his most important works include the Şehzade Mosque in Istanbul, the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, and the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. In decorative arts, Iznik tiles reached their artistic peak and were used in many buildings.