Bir dönem Boğaziçi Üniversitesinde öğretim üyeliği yapan sanat ve mimarlık tarihçisi Godfrey Godwin'in bu eşsiz eseri Osmanlı Mimarisini İmparatorluğun başlangıcından sonuna dek incelemektedir. Özellikle son iki yüzyıllık Osmanlı Mimarisini ele alan İngilizce'deki tek eser olması açısından ayrı bir önem taşımaktadır. 512 sayfadan oluşan kitap 81 plan, 521 fotoğraf içermektedir. The aim of this book is to show that Ottoman architecture, far from being merely a decadent mixture of Persian, Byzantine and other styles, is a historic style in its own right. İts aims, also, to show Ottoman baroque as a creative period; for, although many Turkish writers deny it any virtue, it did have considerable influence on the Romantic movements of the West and for many Europeans epitomized the architecture of the Sultanate. It clearly had individuality and zest. It is undoubtedly true that early Ottoman architecture was influenced by Byzantine and Armenian traditions; it can also be seen as the issue of Roman engineering, which has been transmuted into the poetry of space with the building of Hagia Sophia and Hagia Irene in Constantinople. Ottoman builders, like their predecessors, were disciplined by religious symbolism - the great garden of Islamic abstract design which is so entangled with Eastern and Western forms, were believers in Muhammed; among those who were, many were unorthodox. So, like all creative art anywhere, Ottoman architecture was derivative and acknowledged no frontiers: it fed on the compost of other cultures in order to develop its own individual style. If this book, through the analysis of this style, its history and its symbolism, helps towards an understanding and respect for Ottoman architecture, then its purpose will be achieved.

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