Occupation Statesman | ||
Address Mimar Sinan Mahallesi, 34664 Üsküdar/İstanbul, Turkey Similar Şemsipaşa İlçe Halk Kütüphan, Kilic Ali Pasa Mosque, Valide‑i Atik Mosque, Sinan Pasha Mosque, Dolmaba Mosque | ||
Semsi pasha mosque 2
Şemsi Ahmet Pasha also known as Chamsi-Pasha; 1492 – 28 April 1580) was a prominent Ottoman nobleman and statesman of Albanian origin who occupied numerous high-ranking political posts, serving at different stages as the Ottoman governor of Damascus, Rûm, Sivas, Anatolia and Rumelia, and subsequently succeeding Sokollu Mehmet Pasha as grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire in 1579.
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Life
Paternally, he was a direct descendant of Khalid ibn al-Walid, the celebrated commander whose armies conquered Syria at the time of Muhammad in the 7th century. His mother was the granddaughter of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I, Ayşe Hümaşah Sultan.
Raised in the Imperial residence of the period, Topkapı Palace, as Grand Vizier, he charged renowned court architect Mimar Sinan with the task of building a mosque and adjoining complex near his main seat, the Şemsi Pasha Palace on the Bosphorus shoreline in Constantinople. The Şemsi Pasha Mosque is one of the smallest mosques to be commissioned by a Grand Vizier, and yet it is one of the most well-known mosques in city, due to a combination of its miniature dimensions and its waterfront location. It is mentioned as a chief example of Mimar Sinan's skill in organically blending architecture with the natural landscape.
During Şemsi Pasha's tenure as the Governor-General of Rumelia, it was reported that he left the capital for Sofia in 1565 with such pomp that the people of Constantinople who watched the spectacle of his lavishly clad retinue had never seen a beylerbey (Governor-General) display such 'majesty and grandeur.'