The Ottoman sultans were passionate patrons of the arts and maintained large ateliers of artisans and artists,

primarily at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul but also in other important cities of the vast empire. The period from the fifteenth century to the early eighteenth century witnessed a flourishing of pottery, rugs, silk and other textiles, jewelry, arms and armor, and calligraphy. By far the greatest contribution of the Ottoman Empire to world art was its architecture. Traditionally, prayer halls in mosques were subdivided by numerous pillars that supported small individual domes, creating a private, forestlike atmosphere. The turks , however, modeled their new mosques on the open floor plan of the Byzantine church of Hagia, Sophia, which had been turned into a mosque by Mehmet II, and began to push the pillars toward the outter wall to create a prayer hall with an uninterrupted central area under one large dome. With this plan, large numbers of believer could worship in unison in accordance with Muslim preference.