Where it began: Home of famed Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan in Kayseri

The house of famed architect Mimar Sinan has become a tourist destination in the region for people interested in seeing the roots of the Ottoman Empire’s most famous architect.

A view of the house where Mimar Sinan was born and grew up in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri’s Ağırnas neighborhood, Turkey, Jan. 6, 2022.

The house was restored as a museum in 2004 and opened to tourism. In 2021 alone about 70,000 people visited the house.

Born in 1490, Mimar Sinan lived in this stone house until he was 22 and went to Istanbul to become the greatest architect the Ottoman Empire saw.

Visitors marvel at the centuries-old structure with its grain vault, kitchen with light flooding the room and an underground gallery.

The region is known for its volcanic stones, and architecture was a part of Mimar Sinan life since the cradle.

His father and grandfather both were stone masons and knew their craft.

Growing up with these masters paved the way to his successful career around the Ottoman Empire.

Sinan was brought to Istanbul as a "devshirme" (a system that trained non-Muslim citizens of the empire to be officers of the state) in the time of Sultan Selim I, also known as Yavuz Sultan Selim.

Having undersigned 365 works across the world including 92 mosques, ...

52 small mosques, 55 schools of madrassas, ...

seven schools for Quran reciters (darülkurra), 20 mausoleums, ...

17 imarets, three hospitals, six waterways, 10 bridges, 20 caravanserais, ...

36 palaces, eight cellars and 48 public baths, Sinan died on April 9, 1588 in Istanbul at the age of 98.

Sinan's mausoleum, which resembles a compass when viewed from above, is located in the Süleymaniye Complex, which is regarded as "his masterpiece."

The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, which Sinan called "his masterwork," is accepted as one of the leading works of Turkish-Ottoman art and world architectural history.