Büyük Ağa Medresesi or Kapı Ağa Medresesi is a historical 15th century medrese in

Amasya Amasya () is a city in northern Turkey and is the capital of Amasya Province, in the Black Sea Region. It was called Amaseia or Amasia in antiquity."Amasya" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th e ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. The complex was built in 1488 on the order of the ''Kapı Ağası'' (chief of the eunuchs that worked in the harem) Hüseyin Ağa during the reign of the

Ottoman sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı padişahları), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its hei ...

Bayezid II Bayezid II ( ota, بايزيد ثانى, Bāyezīd-i s̱ānī, 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512, Turkish: ''II. Bayezid'') was the eldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, ...

Building

The medrese has a unique

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

al plan used for the first time in this building and consists of the student rooms, each covered by a small dome, around an octagonal colonnaded courtyard. The largest domed room was used as the main lecture room and now for the training of local youth to become '' hafız''.

Gallery

File:Amasya-Kapı-Ağası-Medrese-01.JPG, The courtyard and the student rooms

References

Religious buildings and structures completed in 1488 Amasya Ottoman architecture in Turkey Buildings and structures in Amasya Province Madrasas in Turkey {{Turkey-mosque-stub