Gökmedrese or Gök Medrese (literally: "Celestial Madrasah" or "Blue Madrasah"; ), also known as Sahibiye Medresesi, is a 13th-century

medrese 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 ...

, an

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic educational institution, in the city of

Sivas Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.İl Beledi ...

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 ...

History

The medrese was commissioned by Sahip Ata Fahrettin Ali, a

vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...

and the de facto ruler of Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm after the death of Pervane in 1277. Up to 1271, he was usually in good terms with Pervane. He commissioned many buildings in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. Gökmedrese is one of the most imposing of all. The original name of the medrese is ''Sahibiye'', referring to Sahip Ata. But it is usually known as Gökmedrese, because of the sky-blue tiles used at the building. The medrese was constructed by an architect known as "

Kaloyan Kaloyan or Kalojan, also known as Ivan I, Ioannitsa or Johannitsa (; 1170 – October 1207), the Roman Slayer, was emperor or tsar of Bulgaria from 1196 to 1207. He was the younger brother of Theodor and Asen, who led the anti-Byzantine upr ...

" (

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the F ...

: , "Kalo Yianni," literally 'good John') from

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

. Originally, it was a two-story building. There were also a

hamam A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the Islamic culture, culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...

(Turkish bath) and a soup kitchen for 30 people. But presently, only the 13 rooms of the lower floor exist. It was restored in 1823 and was in use up until 1926.http://eskidergi.cumhuriyet.edu.tr/makale/1290.pdf

Technical details

There are two high minarets, one at each side of the portal. The width of the building is . The dimensions of the courtyard is . There are two divisions, one leading to the mescit (prayer room) and the other to class rooms.

Vakıf

In middle age Islamic countries ''

Vakıf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or '' mortmain'' property, is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or chari ...

'' was a source of revenue, endowed for the exploitation and the maintenance of the foundations as well as for the salaries of the staff. In Gökmedrese case, there were 85 markets, nine villages, two farms and some other sources endowed as vakfiye.

Gallery

Image:Gok Medresesi2.jpg, Muqarnas on the portal. Image:Gok Medresesi1.jpg File:GÖk Medrese during restoration 8335.jpg, Gök Medrese during restoration shot from right side File:GÖk Medrese during restoration 8367.jpg, Gök Medrese before restoration Portal from left side File:GÖk Medrese during restoration 8332.jpg, Gök Medrese before restoration Decoration corner File:GÖk Medrese during restoration 8357.jpg, Gök Medrese before restoration Ceiling inside File:GÖk Medrese during restoration 8309.jpg, Gök Medrese during restoration Minarets File:GÖk Medrese before restoration 044.jpg, Gök Medrese before restoration Portal File:GÖk Medrese before restoration 048.jpg, Gök Medrese before restoration Portal detail File:GÖk Medrese before restoration 049.jpg, Gök Medrese before restoration Portal detail File:GÖk Medrese before restoration 050.jpg, Gök Medrese before restoration Portal detail closer up File:GÖk Medrese before restoration 052.jpg, Gök Medrese before restoration Portal side File:GÖk Medrese before restoration 059.jpg, Gök Medrese before restoration Decoration File:GÖk Medrese before restoration 2258.jpg, Gök Medrese before restoration shot from side

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gokmedrese Buildings and structures in Sivas Anatolian Seljuk architecture Buildings and structures completed in 1271 Madrasas in Turkey Buildings and structures of the Sultanate of Rum World Heritage Tentative List for Turkey 13th-century madrasas