The Imperial Capital

Ottoman architecture, different from Islamic and European traditions, was established in the 16th Century. It was a complex and new architectural form, derived from a source and occurring all over Anatolia at Manisa, Iznik, Bursa, and Selcuk.
Mausoleums, Madrasahs, and several buildings known as Tekkes along the mosques were constructed to house dervish and other holy men. The tekke was joined to a mosque, and the entire complex was called a Kulliye. All the buildings continued to develop the central plan structures in Anatolia by the Seljuqs.
The other Ottoman architecture source is the Christian Art, also known as the Byzantine tradition embodied in Hagia Sophia. Due to the contacts the Ottoman empire had with Italy, most of the buildings feature Italian architecture.
Ottoman architects were trained as military engineers. The Ottoman architecture reached heights with a series of mosques and kulliyes, which still dominate the skyline of Istanbul, such as the Fatih Kulliye, The Bayezid Mosque, The Selim Mosque, and the Suleyman Kulliye.

Critical secular buildings like baths, caravansaries, Topkapi Sarayı, along mosques and Kulliyes in Istanbul are the Ottoman architecture's characteristic monuments 300 years of royal architecture still preserved.
