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Karatay Madrasa

Coordinates: 37°52′29″N 32°29′34″E / 37.87472°N 32.49278°E / 37.87472; 32.49278
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(Redirected from Karatay Medrese)
Karatay Madrasa
Religion
AffiliationIslam
DistrictKonya
ProvinceKonya
RegionCentral Anatolia
Location
LocationTurkey Konya, Turkey
Architecture
TypeMadrasa
StyleIslamic, Seljuk architecture
Completed1251
Minaret(s)1

Karatay Madrasa is a madrasa (a school with a frequently but not absolutely religious focus) in Konya, Turkey located at the foot of the citadel hill, across from the ruins of the Seljuk palace and in view of the Alâeddin Mosque. It was founded in 1251 by the vizier Jalal al-Din Qaratay (d. 1254) during the joint rule of the brothers Kayqubad II, Kaykaus II, and Kilij Arslan IV.[1][2][3] The madrasa and the Karatay Han, a caravanserai completed in the 1240s, are the largest extant monuments in Konya and its immediate regions.[3]

History[edit]

The monument was built after the Mongol invasions of Anatolia and as a result the design is not strictly Seljuk in nature.[2] The lower areas of the walls around the centre of the madrasa are decorated with hexagonal turquoise tiles adorned with gold ornamentation, most of which are inscriptions. The portal, which is not joined to the body of the building, is similar to that of the Alâeddin Mosque; the stonework is likely the work of craftsmen from northern Syria in the 1220s.[3] It is possible that the portal had been previously built at the same time as the Alâeddin Mosque and was reused for the madrasa.

The madrasa was built next to the Küçük Karatay Madrasa, which no longer exists.[3] In the records of Shams al-Din Ahmad Aflaki, a biographer of Rumi, the madrasa was a place where gatherings of both Sufis and scholars took place.[3] Despite the recorded presence of Sufis, the document listing the madrasa's endowment (waqfiyya) states: "And he [the founder] stipulated that the müderris (teacher of Islamic law in a madrasa) should be Hanafi...", likely because the Seljuk rulers were largely Hanafi.[3]

The tile manufacture of the madrasa was likely coordinated by Muhammad al-Tusi, a master ceramicist from the Iranian city of Tus in Khurasan, who was also responsible for the tile decoration of the Sırçalı Madrasa.[4]

Since 1955, the place serves as a museum where Seljuk tiles are united, while artifacts in stone or in wood are on display in Ince Minaret Madrasa, also in Konya.[5][6] The collection of Karatay Museum was particularly enriched by the finds collected as of the 1970s in Kubadabad Palace royal summer residence on Lake Beyşehir shore, at eighty miles from Konya to the west.

Gallery[edit]

  • Exterior of the madrasa
    Exterior of the madrasa
  • The entrance portal
    The entrance portal
  • Detail of the ablaq and muqarnas stonework in the portal
    Detail of the ablaq and muqarnas stonework in the portal
  • Main hall of the madrasa/museum
    Main hall of the madrasa/museum
  • Dome above the main hall
    Dome above the main hall
  • View of the dome transition, with the arch of the iwan visible below it
    View of the dome transition, with the arch of the iwan visible below it
  • Detail of tilework in the dome
    Detail of tilework in the dome
  • The iwan branching off the main hall
    The iwan branching off the main hall
  • Ceramic plates on display as part of the musuem
    Ceramic plates on display as part of the musuem
  • Reconstituted tile mosaic from Kubadabad Palace on display
    Reconstituted tile mosaic from Kubadabad Palace on display
  • Kubadabad Palace tile
    Kubadabad Palace tile
  • Kubadabad Palace tile
    Kubadabad Palace tile
  • Fragments of gypsum decorations
    Fragments of gypsum decorations

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bloom, Jonathan; Blair, Sheila (2009-05-14). Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set. OUP USA. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1.
  2. ^ a b Blessing, Patricia (2022-07-31). Architecture and Material Politics in the Fifteenth-century Ottoman Empire (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 89–90. doi:10.1017/9781009042727. ISBN 978-1-009-04272-7.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Blessing, Patricia (2016-12-05). Rebuilding Anatolia after the Mongol Conquest: Islamic Architecture in the Lands of Rum, 1240–1330. Routledge. pp. 23–44. ISBN 978-1-351-90628-9.
  4. ^ Canby, Sheila R.; Beyazit, Deniz; Rugiadi, Martina; Peacock, A. C. S. (2016-04-27). Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs. Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 283–284. ISBN 978-1-58839-589-4.
  5. ^ McClary, Richard P. (2017-07-28). Rum Seljuq Architecture, 1170-1220: The Patronage of Sultans. Edinburgh University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-4744-1748-8.
  6. ^ Renard, John (1998-06-18). Windows on the House of Islam: Muslim Sources on Spirituality and Religious Life. University of California Press. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-520-21086-8.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Karatay Madrasa, Konya.

37°52′29″N 32°29′34″E / 37.87472°N 32.49278°E / 37.87472; 32.49278


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