Sedefkar Mehmed Agha

Sedefkar Mehmed Agha (about 1540 to 1617) was an Ottoman architect, notably the builder of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, called the Blue Mosque, in Istanbul. He was Albanian, brought to Istanbul in 1563 through the devshirme, and spent about twenty years specialising in mother-of-pearl inlay, which gave him the surname Sedefkar. He later turned to architecture and became a pupil of Mimar Sinan, serving as his first assistant. After Sinan died in 1588 he was passed over for the post of royal architect, but he became Master of the Waterways in 1597 and chief imperial architect in 1606. From 1609 until 1616 he worked exclusively on the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, whose design is symmetrical, with a great central dome buttressed by four semi-domes, and draws on Hagia Sophia and on Sinan's work. A book on architectural theory was written for him by Cafer Efendi. He died in Istanbul in 1617.