Abstract
Ottoman at Kadirga Limani in Istanbul, long referred to as Esma Sultan's palace and loosely attributed to one or the other of two eighteenth-century princesses of that name, in fact dates back to the sixteenth century. It was built for a much earlier Esmahan (Ismihan) Sultan (1545-85), the daughter of Selim II by Nurbanu Sultan (n&e Cecilia Venier-Baffo), granddaughter of Silleyman the Magnificent, and wife of Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasa. The second discovery is that the architect for this monumental was none other than Sinan. This makes Kadirga the first of Sinan's numerous palaces for which we have an actual layout. I have presented evidence for both Esmahan's patronage and Sinan's design elsewhere.' Here I shall limit myself to the task of architectural reconstruction. A description of what the must have been like is in any case necessary before any definitive identification can be made. Since no part of this has survived, its reconstruction must be based entirely on other evidence, something that has hitherto never been attempted for an Ottoman for which there are no remains. This reconstruction will form the foundation
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