Anatolian Mosques of the Great Seljuk: Architectural and Political Landmarks
The author acquaints the reader with monuments of Muslim architecture built in south-eastern Anatolia during the period of the reign of the Great Seljuk Dynasty (late 11th-middle of the 12th centuries) that is often overlooked in publications on the history of Turkish culture. During the first decades of the Turkic rule religious structures began to be actively erected in the Caliphate and the new rulers were seeking appropriate models. The arguments in this choice were not only (and not as much) the existing types of mosques and acknowledged masterpieces of Muslim architecture, but also the political ambitions of the Great Seljuks and their Anatolian vassals, who had turned the newly built mosques into actionable instruments of the political rhetoric.