Starred Review ALA Booklist (Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2003)

Starred Review Once again Macaulay uses clear words and exemplary drawings to explore a majestic structure's design and construction. This time the story takes place in sixteenth-century Istanbul, where a wealthy patron has hired an architect to create a mosque and its support buildings. The spreads follow the complex through its planning and building, using Macaulay's familiar combination of labeled architectural drawings, sketches showing artisans at work, and thorough descriptions that are, perhaps, more technical than in some of his previous titles. In his foreword, Macaulay explains that he has based his story on a composite of actual historical people and mosques, and his images and words are filled with accurate details that reveal the history and culture of the time. This isn't an introduction to Islam; readers will want some basic knowledge of the religion. But in his respectful, straightforward explanation of the mosque's design, Macaulay offers an unusual, inspiring perspective into Islamic society that's removed from the charged headlines, and, as in all his work, he conveys a contagious awe and wonder at the design and engineering feats that societies have accomplished. Those fascinated by the technical story may want to refer also to Macaulay's Building Big (2001), which includes an excellent section about the Hagia Sophia Mosque.

School Library Journal Starred Review

Gr 5 Up-Macaulay's books on architecture are by now an institution in themselves, and this latest addition to the series maintains the high quality of its predecessors. Using, as always, a fictional framework to hold his nonfictional material, the author introduces readers to Admiral Suha Mehmet Pasa, a wealthy aristocrat living in Istanbul, who decides in his declining years to fund the building of a mosque and its associated buildings-religious school, soup kitchen, public baths, public fountain, and tomb. Detailing the activities of the architect and workers, Macaulay creates a from-the-ground-up look not only at the actual construction, but also at the uses of the various buildings, most of which will be unfamiliar to Westerners. In his preface, the artist states that he has based his invented mosque on the existing structures of a famous Ottoman architect, Sinan, who worked during the mid to late 16th century. While there are many books that introduce Islam and its major beliefs and practices to non-Muslim readers, this title provides both a less didactic and arguably more effective look at the religion by placing it within a social context, even one as relatively "cold" as architecture. In this way, the admiral, his architect, and their workers are seen as more than followers of a faith; they are also seen as flesh-and-blood people who require toilets and baths and who recognize their own mortality.-Coop Renner, Fairmeadows Elementary, Duncanville, TX Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Horn Book

Bringing his usual precise observation and clarity of description, Macaulay focuses on the architecture and engineering of a fictional 1595 "charitable foundation": a large mosque plus a religious college, a soup kitchen, public baths, and a tomb. The mosque itself, with its elaborate buttressing system of arches and half domes, its variety of materials, and its richly ornamented interior, will fascinate budding engineers and art historians.

Kirkus Reviews

Taking its place proudly among such other monuments of world civilization as Cathedral , Pyramid , and Castle is the subject of Macaulay's newest architectural exploration. Hewing to the formula established in previous works, the narrative explores the building of a fictional mosque, "modeled directly on existing examples." After introducing its cast of characters and discussing the socio-cultural importance of the mosque complex, the narrative then plunges eagerly into the meat of the matter: building. Moving methodically around the complex (a progression aided by the glossary in the back), the text and its superb accompanying drawings explain both the religious and structural underpinnings of the mosque. The description of the planned prayer hall, for instance, includes both the importance of its orientation toward Mecca and the system of piers and semidomes that make possible the crowning of a vast square room with a grand dome. The meticulous pen-and-ink drawings are delicately tinted to help distinguish the different structural elements and bring the building to life, both in process and in completion. Magnificent. (Nonfiction. 9+)