Risale-i Mi‘mariyye

The Risale-i Mi‘mariyye by Ca'fer Efendi is the most extensive and detailed Ottoman literary source devoted to a particular architect. In addition to being an account of the life and works of the imperial architect Mehmed Aga, builder of the Sultan Ahmed Complex in Istanbul, it serves to suggest something of the general character and career evolution of the entire class of Ottoman imperial architects of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and includes as well a trilingual glossary of terms related to architecture. With the exception of the more abridged te?keres of Mustafa Sa'i Çelebi dealing with Sinan, the Risale-i Mi‘mariyye is the only systematic Ottoman account of the life an imperial architect known to exist.