A STUDY ON THE ARCHITECT OF THE KARACABEY IMARET IN ANKARA: AHMED IBN ABU BAKR AL-DIMASHQ

Abstract

The information about the 14th and early 15th century Ottoman architects is intensely inadequate. In fact, the only extant information on the architects of early Ottoman world is their names. Apart from several historical chronicles which somehow mention the name of the architect of a significant monument, the only sources regarding the names of Early Ottoman architects are the inscriptions, which took place in the art and architecture literature. The inscription of the imaret, built in 1427 by Karacabey in Ankara, giving the name of an architect, Ahmed ibn Abu Bakr (Ahmed the son of Abu Bakr) is very significant for History of Ottoman Architecture. This inscription is the only source on Ahmed who was in charge in the first half of the 15th century. Ahmed, who was an competent architect to build an imaret as Karacabey, should had taken in charge in several monuments, as well. This paper aims to reveal the possible career of Ahmed around Amasya and Ankara region with taking account of the data on his father Abu Bakr, who was an architect as well, historical sources and the contemporaneous architectural monuments nerby Ankara.