Sırçalı Madrasah: A Thirteenth-Century Seljuk Islamic School in Konya
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Turkey
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Seljuk
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Madrasa
On this page15 sections
History
Sırçalı Madrasah is a thirteenth-century Islamic school in Konya, Türkiye, built by the Anatolian Seljuks in 1242 during the reign of Sultan Kaykhusraw II. It was established for the study of Islamic jurisprudence and formed part of Konya’s large group of Seljuk madrasas, of which around twenty-four were built and seven remain standing.
Foundation under the Seljuks
The madrasa was commissioned by Emir Badr al-Din Muslih, a Seljuk court official who was known by the titles lala, meaning mentor, hadim, meaning servant, and hoca, meaning teacher. These titles reflected his service at court. He died after 1258. A surviving foundation inscription states that the institution was endowed for scholars and students of law belonging to the Hanafi school, one of the principal traditions of Islamic jurisprudence associated with Abu Hanifa al-Nu’man.
As a center of legal and religious learning, the madrasa belonged to the educational institutions of the Seljuk capital. Its arrangement of teaching spaces around a courtyard supported instruction in the iwans, large vaulted halls open on one side to the courtyard, and in enclosed rooms suited to colder conditions.
Seljuk, Ottoman, and later use
Sırçalı Madrasah continued to function as a madrasa during both the Seljuk and Ottoman periods. Its iwan vault collapsed in the seventeenth century. By the nineteenth century, the building had been entirely abandoned as an educational institution.
After its abandonment, the madrasa underwent several restorations intended to bring it close to its original form. During the twentieth century, it opened as the Konya Museum of Gravestones, a function it retains. The museum houses Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman gravestones. The building stands on Sırçalı Street in the Sahib Ata neighborhood, south of the Ala al-Din area of Konya.
Remains
Sırçalı Madrasah is a two-story building organized around an open rectangular courtyard on an east-west axis. A basin occupies the center, and pairs of student rooms line the courtyard. The main entrance projects slightly from the eastern wall, while the principal teaching and prayer spaces are arranged within the courtyard plan. Thick walls of irregular rubble masonry contain timber between the stones, a construction method intended to give the walls flexibility. Stone was used for the entrance portal, while brick forms the interior arches and domes. Some original materials were replaced during restoration.
Courtyard and teaching spaces
Main iwan
The main iwan stands three steps above the courtyard opposite the entrance and is described as occupying the northern side. An iwan is a large vaulted hall open toward a courtyard. This space was used for instruction outside the winter season. Its damaged barrel vault has been restored, and a mihrab, a prayer niche indicating the direction of Mecca, on its southeast wall suggests that the hall also served as a mosque or prayer room.
Domed classrooms
Two iwans belong to the madrasa plan, while the domed rooms flanking the courtyard probably served as winter classrooms. Their enclosed form suited Konya’s harsh climate. Tile decoration survives on the upper windows of these rooms, on their interior surfaces, and on the supporting columns of the courtyard arcades.
Tomb chamber
A tomb chamber lies north of the main entrance and is reached by two steps. It contains three anonymous cenotaphs, one of which may have belonged to Badr al-Din Muslih. Tile decoration survives on the chamber’s ceiling and within the room, linking the commemorative space to the madrasa’s wider ornamental program.
Portal and stone ornament
Entrance portal
The eastern portal has an arched opening, a niche on each side, and a marble inscription above it in Arabic thuluth script. Thuluth is a monumental Arabic calligraphic style commonly used for formal inscriptions. The portal’s stonework forms part of a highly ornamented façade whose reliefs display varied geometric patterns.
Façade reliefs
The relief decoration gives the entrance façade a strongly patterned surface. Its geometric designs belong to the stone ornament associated with Anatolian Seljuk architecture. The façade provides a contrast with the brick arches and domes used within the building and with the glazed tile decoration that gives the madrasa its name.
Glazed tile decoration and inscriptions
Iwan tilework
The surviving tile decoration includes the western iwan and the main iwan. The original work of the main western iwan uses tile mosaic set on plaster, sometimes called false tile mosaic. Its palette includes light blue, dark blue, manganese tones ranging from black to dark purple, turquoise, and violet. Geometric patterns on the sides of the iwan resemble the Banna-i style, with black and blue tiles set against a brick background.
Other surviving tilework appears on the courtyard walls, iwans, domed rooms, tomb chamber, arcade columns, and upper windows. Much of the interior was formerly covered with glazed tiles, and the remaining fragments preserve the building’s combination of geometric ornament and calligraphic decoration.
Calligraphic panels
An inscription on the right side of the western iwan contains Quran 2:284–286 in thuluth script. Above a side door to the left of the vault, a Kufic inscription reads “Glory to God.” Kufic is an angular Arabic script frequently used for monumental writing. The south wall of the iwan contains a mihrab with an inscription bearing Quran 3:17, while further Quranic texts in Kufic and thuluth appear on the courtyard walls and iwans.
Craftsman’s signatures
A black graffito tile on a medallion bears the signature of the craftsman Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Usman al-banna al-Tusi. Another medallion carries a Persian couplet declaring that the craftsman’s work is unparalleled and will endure as a memory. These inscriptions connect the surviving decoration with the people who produced and interpreted it.
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