Dündar Bey Madrasa (), also called ''Taş Medrese'' ("Stone Madrasa"), is a historical madrasa in

Eğirdir Eğirdir is a town in Isparta Province in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Eğirdir District.

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

is a medieval Islamic educational institution. In the 1960s, it was restored, and is now used as a

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

Location

The madrasa building is in Eğirdir, an

ilçe The Provinces of Turkey, 81 provinces of Turkey are divided into 973 districts (''ilçeler''; sing. ''ilçe''). In the Ottoman Empire and in the early Turkish Republic, the corresponding unit was the ''qadaa, kaza''. Most provinces bear the s ...

(district) of

Isparta Province Isparta Province () is a province in southwestern Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Afyon to the northwest, Burdur to the southwest, Antalya to the south, and Konya to the east. Its area is 8,946 km2, and its population is 445,325 (2022). The p ...

Eğirdir Castle Eğirdir Castle is a castle in Turkey. It is in Eğirdir ilçe (district) of Isparta Province. Located at is on an isthmus of Eğirdir Lake. There is no written account of the construction date of the castle. According to local tradition it ma ...

is to the east of the madrasa. Its distance to

Isparta Isparta is a city in western Turkey. It is the seat of Isparta Province and Isparta District.İl ...

is . It is situated in the town and close to the

Lake Eğirdir Eğirdir (, formerly ''Eğridir'') is a lake in the Lakes Region of Turkey. The town of Eğirdir lies near its southern end, north of Antalya. With an area of it is the fourth largest lake in Turkey, and the second largest freshwater lake. ...

Background

The commissioner of the madrasa was Dündar Bey of Hamidoğlu

Anatolian beylik Anatolian or anatolica may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the region Anatolia * Ancient Anatolians, Anatolians, ancient Indo-European peoples who spoke the Anatolian languages * Anatolian High School, a type of Turkish educational in ...

. Just like other beyliks of the era, he emerged during the last phase of

Seljuks of Anatolia The Sultanate of Rum was a culturally Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim state, established over conquered Byzantine territories and peoples (Rum) of Anatolia by the Seljuk Turks following their entry into Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. T ...

. His suzerain was the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire was the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in human history, history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Euro ...

. The capital of his beylik was Eğirdir, now a resort town, then an important city. The madrasa was built during this period about 1301. Although Dündar was later killed by the Mongols, his sons managed to continue the beylik up until the Ottoman conquest in 1391.

The building

The madrasa was built in 1301. It was adjacent to the now-extinct city walls. It is a two storey building with two

iwan An iwan (, , also as ''ivan'' or ''ivān''/''īvān'', , ) is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. The formal gateway to the iwan is called , a Persian term for a portal projecting ...

s and an open

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

. It has two inscriptions. The one on the iwan is about Dündar Bey and the other one on the crown gate is about Keyhusrev II (1237-1246 ), a Seljukid sultan and not a contemporary of Dündar. The gate was from a former

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...

built by the sultan close to Eğirdir. There are also some other collected material in the building, such as

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

column capitals.Islamic Encyclopaedia
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dundar Bey Madrasa Buildings and structures in Isparta Province Buildings and structures completed in 1301 Religious buildings and structures completed in the 1300s Madrasas in Turkey Buildings and structures of the Anatolian Beyliks Eğirdir District 14th-century madrasas