XVth Century Builder Cakir Aga and his Architectural Buildings

Abstract

There is limited information on Cakir Aga, who is known as the cakircibasi/head hawker of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. Cakir Aga was born in Skopje, and worked as a subasi / police superintendent in Bursa during the reign of Sultan Murad II, took part in the conquest of Istanbul, and in addition to his post as subasi / the police superintendent, he was assigned as the sekbanbasi (Chief Sekban) and cakircibasi / head hawker. His endowment dated 1480 names him Cakir Aga bin Abdullah. Cakir Aga stands out as the builder of various architectural works during the reign of Murad II and especially Mehmed the Conqueror. He had works erected in Bursa, Edirne and Istanbul, and has a mosque and bathhouse in Bursa, one mosque in Edirne, a zawiya and an inn in Silivri, and five mosques in Istanbul. His extant works in Bursa and Edirne have been altered and his Silivri works have not survived. Kapalicarsi and Cibali mosques, which are understood to be located in different parts inside Istanbul's city walls, and the mosque in Edirnekapi, which has been identified in this study, have reached the present day with alterations. Cakir Aga must have been influential in the development of Istanbul, especially after the conquest. Small mosques constitute the majority of Cakir Aga's buildings, although Cakir Aga also had built examples of other typologies, such as inns, zawiyas and bathhouses. This paper introduces and discusses Cakir Aga as a builder and examines his works based on recently obtained data under the light of printed sources and documents in the Ottoman Archives.