This library is located next to the famous Suleymaniye Mosque in the Turkish city of Istanbul on the European side of it, specifically in the Golden Horn area near the famous Eminonu port and is easily accessible from it.

The College of Sulaymaniyah in general, of which the library is a part, is one of the most luxurious scientific complexes in the Islamic world

History of the building of the Sulaymaniyah Library

The library was built by order of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1549 AD with the construction of a mosque and the Sulaymaniyah College. The architect responsible for the complete work was “Sinan Pasha”, and it is part of the Sulaymaniyah College complex.

Where the order to build the Sultan Suleiman Mosque was issued by the person of the Sultan himself, and it is said that the Sultan opened the treasury to Sinan Pasha, which made him pour all his abilities and creativity into this great edifice.

In order to open the Sulaymaniyah College as a whole in 1557 AD, which is the largest Islamic complex after the Al-Fateh complex.

The complex consists of a hospital, schools, a hotel, bathrooms, a market and a library, which is the famous Sulaymaniyah Library.

It also contains the tomb of Baneh (Mimar Sinan) in the outer section of the mosque’s courtyard

In addition to the tomb of (Sultan Suleiman) itself and with the tombs of his wife and daughter inside the building of the mosque

The style of building the Sulaymaniyah library is clearly based on the Anatolian Islamic style, where Sinan Pasha was keen to build it with mortar only to earn it simplicity, grandeur and luxury at the same time.

The contents of the Suleymaniye Library in Istanbul

The Sulaymaniyah Library is the largest and richest library in terms of Turkish, Arabic and Persian cultural heritage manuscripts

The library contains a collection of manuscripts that were kept in schools and mosques throughout Istanbul and abroad.

The number of manuscripts in Sulaymaniyah is approximately 80,000 manuscripts, and some of these manuscripts contain more than one book, and they also contain approximately 115 thousand books. Some of these books are written in Turkish, and a few of them are written in Persian and Arabic.

It also contains manuscripts from 117 libraries, and an Arabic index has been issued for it in three volumes and its details are as follows: “Index of Arabic, Turkish and Persian Manuscripts in the Sulaymaniyah Library” – Mahmoud Al-Sayyid Al-Daghim, Mahmoud Sayed Oghli, Jeddah: Saqifat Al-Safa Al-Ilmiyya, 1431 AH.

In addition, much of the library’s contents are personal safes donated by their owners

Including: Ahmed Anlatan Group

Abdul Ghani Agha Group

Hagia Sophia group

Asher Effendi group

Wehbe Effendi Baghdali Group

Good People Endowment Group

Arslan Kinardag Group

And many other valuable literary and historical holdings.