Ottoman architectural history has generally remained within the bounds of empirical scholarship, its monuments being the subject of description, formal analysis, and taxonomic studies. However, over the last decade or so, the number of interpretative studies has increased. As examples, one may refer to Gülru Necipoğlu’s work on the life and work of Sinan,[1] or Shirine Hamadeh’s publications on 18th-century architecture.[2] With the exception of Jale Erzen’s work on the aesthetics of Ottoman art,[3] these and other interpretative studies look to the patron as generator and consumer of meaning. A reception history about the experiences of the monuments’ users (or even the architect’s perception of his own creations) is still a major lacuna. It is this gap that Selen Morkoç attempts to fill, by conducting a hermeneutic analysis of several narratives: five 16th-century autobiographical treatises written by Mustafa Sa’i and Sinan, Cafer Efendi’s early 17th- century Risale-i Mimariyye, and Dayezade’s 18th-century Selimiye Risalesi.