Publication Date
649 / 1251- 1252
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;tr;Mon01;7;ar
Library Location
Konya, Türkiye
Date
649 / 1251- 1252
Notes
The Karatay Madrasah was built on a rectangular site with dimensions approximately 31.50 x 26.50 metres, oriented east-west. All rooms were arranged around a courtyard covered by a dome. The demolished student rooms on the southern and northern sides were rebuilt in the 1970s. The winter classrooms in the northwest corner, as well as those in the north and south corners of the east wing, are in ruins. The entrance to the school is located at the southern end of the eastern side. Contrary to what is common, the door was not installed in the middle of the wall, and its shape and decorations are different from similar doors of that period. The courtyard is located in the center of the building, and is covered by a dome, at the center of which a five-meter-wide opening is left to provide light and air. Under this opening, in the center of the covered courtyard, is a square basin. On the western side of the courtyard is the main classroom, i.e. the iwan, and on each side of it there is one winter room. The room located to the north of the iwan is demolished, while the other room was converted into a shrine for Sultan Jalal al-Din Karatay, who built the madrasa. The iwan, as well as the student rows located to the north and south of the courtyard, are topped by barrel vaults, while the shrine is topped by a dome. The rooms on the side of the entrance are demolished. The eastern side of the school, where the entrance is located, was built of cut stone. The other walls were built of rubble stones, and bricks were used in their upper parts, starting with the dome and the arches. Decorations can be seen to this day on the entrance to the madrasa, the walls of the rooms facing the courtyard, the dome of the courtyard, and the main iwan. The decorations at the entrance include geometric and floral engravings and decorations executed prominently on marble. In addition, the surfaces of the dome and the entrance are decorated with borders of gray and white marble with interlocking geometric shapes. What is striking is the decoration bearing the shapes of swastikas on the rectangular panels surrounding the entrance. There are also decorated ceramics and mosaics on the walls of the courtyard, its dome, and the main iwan. The remaining traces show that the main iwan and the lower part of the courtyard walls down to the ground were covered with hexagonal turquoise ceramic tiles. There is also a ceramic mosaic decoration that includes geometric and floral engravings and drawings in the recessed parts of the entrance, the windows facing the courtyard, the upper part of the walls, and the fan-shaped spherical triangles supporting the dome of the courtyard, the dome itself, and the arches of the iwan. In addition, the Iwan is decorated with ceramic tiles with relief patterns. The dome of the winter classroom, which was converted into a shrine room, is decorated with unglazed ceramics, paved in a zigzag manner.
Sample Text
Yekta Demiralp “Qaratay School” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;tr;Mon01;7;ar
