In this masterly new book, Gülru Necipoğlu examines completely afresh the centrality of Sinan, chief imperial Ottoman architect between 1538 and 1588, in the creation of what she calls “architectural culture.” Based on a wide variety of primary sources—including some not previously considered from the point of view of architectural history—this is the first exhaustive study offering a wealth of insights into Sinan’s architecture within the context of its own intellectual, political, and religious milieus. The production value of the book is equally remarkable. It is richly illustrated with excellent photographs by Reha Günay, himself an authority on Sinan. Numerous plans and axonometric drawings superbly prepared by Arben N. Arapi also provide discerning hypothetical reconstructions of Sinan’s mosque complexes based on descriptions in original endowment deeds. The Age of Sinan is a fundamental reconstruction and analysis of Ottoman cultural history focusing on religious architecture, which was integral to and profoundly altered by the unprecedented social, political, and aesthetic reforms during the reign of Süleyman I (r. 1526–66), and on the role of Sinan in the implementation and accomplishments of these reforms through his stylistic codification of the congregational and Friday mosque. Necipoğlu argues that Sinan “developed a stratified system of...