SKETCH 18 - WordPress.com · SKETCH 18 ORNAMENT FROM THE S ... ornament, intricate details ... 1 This document contains fragment of the first edition of my book “Islamic Geometric

O r n a m e n t f r o m t h e S u l t a n S e l i m t o m b i n I s t a n b u l | 1

►SKETCH 18

ORNAMENT FROM THE SULTAN SELIM TOMB IN IS-

TANBUL1 Construction of the ornament from the minbar in Rüstem Pasha Mosque

was quite time consuming. Now we will look into something that is even

more time consuming and looks incredibly complicated. However, with

the knowledge gathered up to now we will be able to deal with this case

also.

Now, let us go to the Sultan Selim Mosque (1552) that is far away from the

center of the Istanbul. This mosque, although it is located on the high hill,

it is hidden between the houses and is very difficult to find.

The Sultan Selim Mosque is a very simple mosque like most of the early

Ottoman mosques. In fact architects consider it as the simplest imperial

mosque in Istanbul. However, we can still find a number of interesting

features there – a well done minbar with simple, but still an interesting

ornament, intricate details, influence of Persian craftsmanship, and beau-

tiful Iznik tiles. Tourists, who will come here, in good weather, will be re-

warded with the most superb view of the Golden Horn region with a

number of mosques around and the Galata tower on the other side of the

Golden Horn. They will also find two tombs there. One of them is the Sul-

tan Selim tomb. If we look inside the vestibule of this tomb we will find

two large panels decorated with Iznik tiles. Most of the visitors admire the

floral arabesque on the panels, but unfortunately not many of them turn

their attention to the edge of the panels where there is one the most com-

plex ornaments we can see in Istanbul.

1 This document contains fragment of the first edition of my book “Islamic Geometric

Patterns in Istanbul”. The second, updated edition will be available in 2015.

2 | A u t h o r : M i r e k M a j e w s k i , s o u r c e h t t p : / / s y m m e t r i c a . w o r d p r e s s . c o m

Fig. 119 One of the two large panels from the tomb of Sultan Selim

During the centu-ries of its existence these panels, espe-cially the left one, went through a few disasters. Some parts were replaced. The right panel shown here is in much better condi-tion than the left one.

The ornament on the edges of the panel is probably the most complex geometric orna-ment in Istanbul.

We see here a maze of complex stars and some shapes filing the space be-tween stars.

http://symmetrica.wordpress.com/


Fig. 120 Fragment of the ornament from the tomb of Sultan Selim

We notice here three different types of large stars – in the center there is large 10 fold star, on the right and left edge we see two even larger stars, well half of each star only. These are 12 fold stars. Finally also on the edge we can find a few 9 fold stars.

Note how the edges of different stars interact. In most of the cases an edge of a petal of one star is a continuation of the edge of a petal of another star.

In the next figure we will try to deci-pher relations be-tween stars. Howev-er, at this very mo-ment we should realize that what-ever we will con-struct later may not be exactly what we see here. Simply, we do not have proper dimensions of stars, and some parts of the ornament dis-appear behind the edge. Anyway we still have to try.


Fig. 121 A possible repeat unit for the ornament from the Sultan Selim tomb

We can suppose that the repeat unit is a square ABCD with two axes of mirror symmetry AC and DB. We can also sup-pose that the point E, the center of the star in the middle is an intersection of the diagonals.

I found also that the radius of the cir-cle2 with center in A, is about 1/3=0.33 of the segment AB, and radius of the circle with center in G about ¼=0.25 of AB. However, radii of these two circles can take many other values. The two pictures below show some other possi-bilities. In the left figure the polygons with centers in A and E almost touch each other, in the right one the gap between them is quite large. This cre-ates quite a lot of flexibility in our fu-ture construction.

I guess we are ready to start constructing the repeat unit.

2 Here I use terms star, circle and polygon interchangeably. We know that a star is usually inscribed in a regular polygon and a regular polygon is inscribed in a circle. Therefore, exchanging these terms makes sense.

B

D

E

GA

F

C

DE

AB = 0.182

AD

AB = 0.405

E

A BD EDE

AB = 0.288

AD

AB = 0.300

E

A BD E



Fig. 122 Construction of the repeat unit for the ornament from the Sultan Selim tomb

STEP 1: Boundary of the repeat unit and con-struction of large stars

Like always draw a segment AB, and use it to construct a square. Draw diagonals of the square.

Find point C that is 1/3 length of AB from A. Find another point D that is ¼ of AB from the point C.

Draw the two circles both with center in A and radii AC and AD respectively. The new points on the vertical side of the square mark centers of circles on this side.

Draw four more circles to mark centers of all oth-er stars on the edge of the repeat unit. Mark these points clearly.

Note this way we forced symmetry of locations of our future stars. Now we can start drawing out-lines for the large stars and construct all stars.

The picture below shows what it may look like. Thanks to Sketchpad I was able to cheat a bit here – the stars were created with the help of tools that I created while writing one of the earli-er chapters.

DCA B

C"

D"

C'''D'''

D'

C'

DCA B


.

C"

D"

C'''D'''

D'

C'

DCA B



STEP 2: Construction of the pattern between large stars

At this stage of the construction you can develop the part of the ornament that is based on the existing stars. Simply make thicker all edges of stars that fall into the large square.

Add the subgrid that you see in the picture. We will use it to fill the space between stars.

Now, add the lines of the orna-ment between the big stars. A number of small stars will be created on the way. I created the new part of the ornament using green color in order to distin-guish it from what was done before.

Note the two points – one in the right-bottom corner and another one in the left-top corner. In the original ornament we cannot see correctly how the pattern looks around these two points. There-fore, I created a kind of replace-ment pattern in these two points. It is not exactly the same as what should be there, but it is close enough.

Now is time for the big cleaning – remove all objects that are outside of

the repeat unit. You can hide or remove all labels, points, subgrids, etc.

The next figure shows two versions of the repeat unit – just outlines and

another one with fills.

C"

D"

C'''D'''

D'

C'

DCA B

C"

D"

C'''D'''

D'

C'

DCA B


Fig. 123 An outline version of the repeat unit. Here we have here only segments forming the ornament for the repeat unit and boundaries of the repeat unit and points to emphasize connec-tions of lines.

An almost finished version of the repeat unit. Fills for the stars on the edge of the repeat unit will be added later when a larger or-nament will be created.

Below is an ornament created by using the repeat unit we created in this chapter. Colors of fills are as close to the original as much as it was possible to get a proper reading of colors from the pho-tograph.

Note the dark octagon in the center of the left side of the orna-ment. This is the point where our knowledge about the ornament is a bit limited. I guess a slight change of the radii of the initial two circles may give us a more pleasing result.

Show Points



CREDITS This document contains fragment of the first edition of my book “Islamic

Geometric Patterns in Istanbul”. The second, updated edition will be

available in 2015.

All sketches were created using Geometer’s Sketchpad®, a computer pro-

gram by KCP Technologies, now part of the McGraw-Hill Education. More

about Geometer’s Sketchpad can be found at Geometer’s Sketchpad Re-

source Center at http://www.dynamicgeometry.com/. All rights re-

served. No part of this document can be copied or reproduced without

permission of the author and appropriate credits note.

MIROSLAW MAJEWSKI,

NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,

COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES,

ABU DHABI CAMPUS,

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

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SKETCH 18 - WordPress.com · SKETCH 18 ORNAMENT FROM THE S ... ornament, intricate details ... 1 This document contains fragment of the first edition of my book “Islamic Geometric