Sinan’ın Büyükçekmece’deki Muhteşem Köprüsünün Mühendislik ve Mimarisindeki Savunma Unsurları

This article explores the engineering and military significance of the Büyükçekmece Bridge designed by Sinan bin Abdulmennan—hereafter referred to simply as “Sinan”. Situated between the Sea of Marmara and Lake Büyükçekmece, this remarkable complex consists of four interconnected bridges linking three man-made islands. The bridge was a critical infrastructural element along the imperial route to Rumelia and Balkans. While Sinan’s mosques have long drawn scholarly and aesthetic attention, this study argues that the Büyükçekmece Bridge should also be recognized as a masterpiece that synthesizes functionality, spiritual symbolism, imperial grandeur, and military foresight. From a detailed analysis of drawings and field observations, the paper identifies a range of rarely acknowledged “hidden” features designed into the bridge. The goal of this paper is to investigate the military features incorporated into this complex of four different bridges (spans) and three different causeways on artificial islands. For simplicity, the four spans and three man-made causeways will be referenced as the bridge.