Did Christopher Wren look to Sinan when designing London's St Pauls?

摘要

The cultural relationship between late Renaissance Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire remains enigmatic. That relations were strained is obvious. The 16th and 17th centuries were ages of political and religious conflict as the Ottoman sultans strove to carry their empire, their influence - and Islam - ever further west. The four-month-long 'Great Siege of Malta' in 1565 is emblematic of the period, although not typical, since it ended in a decisive reverse for the Ottoman forces, an event that was unusual at the time and contrary to the expansionist successes of Siileyman the Magnificent, the greatest sultan of the empire.