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Çifte
Medrese, Kayseri
(Gevher Nesibe History of Medicine Museum)
The building which is known in Kayseri as
the Çifte Medrese (The Double Medresse)
consists of two adjecent buildings with
open courtyards. Both buildings have the
typical medresse lay-outs. The only difference
is in the fact that one of the buildings
is wider than the other. However, the similarity
observed in form does not extend to a similarity
in function as the western
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building is a hospital
while the eastern one is
a medical school of the
old order. In other words
one is a health and the
other is an educational
institution.
Both the hospital and the
medresse are arranged according
to the scheme which has
four vaulted antechambers
around an open court yard.
The hospital is a rectangular
shaped building whose outer
dimensions are 41 m. x 32.30
m. One side of its rectangular
courtyard is 12.50 m. and
its three sides are defined
by triple arched porticoes.
The fourth portico which
is at the front of the main
antichamber (eyvan) is built
with a single span. The
vaulted antechambers are
located behind the central
arches with large spans.
Rooms are placed on both
sides of the main antechamber
and these are arranged as
a small room in the west
and two inter-connecting
rectangular rooms in the
east. The portal does not
coincide with the lengthwise
axis of the building but
is located on the axis of
the portico at the west
side of the courtyard. The
medresse which is connected
to the hospital with a barrel
vaulted narrow passage is
pushed back about a meter
from the hospital, accentuating
the existence of two buildings.
If this small diffrence
is ignored, it is possible
to say that the depth of
the hospital is equal to
the depth of the medresse.
However, it is narrower
with its 27.50 m. width.
Hence the courtyard is not
a square, but a rectangle
of 14.00 m. x 8.00 m. dimensions.
Like the hospital, here
also a portico defines the
four sides of the court
yard. At the long side of
the rectangular court the
portico is triple arched
and the side antechambers
(eyvans) are behind the
middle span. The narrow
side of the courtyard has
a single arch at the north
side, in front of the main
antechamber and has two
arches in the south. This
has made it necessary to
move the building at south
from its axis and to place
it behind the western arch.
The main antechamber (eyvan)
of the medresse is narrower
than the main antechamber
of the hospital and less
deep (9.70 m. x 7.50 m.)
and this antechamber also
has two rooms on both sides,
one larger and the other
smaller.
The mousoleum (Türbe) which
is located between the room
at the north-west corner
of the building and the
eastern antechamber and
whose upper and lower grave
cellar and mesjid doors
face the courtyard, is a
typical Seljuk tomb with
its octegonal exterior and
its octagonal prismatic
hat. The interior of the
mesjid is cylindrical.
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Eight
niches are opened on its
walls. One is rectangular
shaped and the other are
a semi-circlilar. The
semi-circle niche at south
east is the "mihrab"
- the niche which indicates
the direction of Mecca.
The roof or "hat",
which looks octagonal
from the outside also
rises octagonally on the
inside. Thus, this mousoleum
is an exception as the
interiors of the hats
are always domes in Anatolian
Seljuk architecture. The
portal of the mousoleum
is on the axis of the
western portico, like
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the hospital,
that is, it is on the
left. Only the inscription
on the portal of the hospital
at the double building
complex has managed to
survive so far. From this
inscription it is understood
that the hospital was
built according to the
will of Gevher Nesibe
Hatun, the sister of Giyaseddin
Kerhüsrev the First and
the daughter of Kılıç
Aslan the IInd in 602
(Islamic calendar) (1205)
The medical school adjacent
to the hospital is known
as the Gıyasiye Medresse
and is assumed to be built
by Gıyaseddin Keyhüsreev
(1192 - 1196, 1204 - 1210)
However, there is no definite
documentation that shows
that the medical school
was built by him. It is
not uncommon to have two
adjacent buildings with
different functions to
be built by different
people during the Seljuk
era. Divriği Grand Mosque
and the Orphange is such
an example. However the
opposite is also true,
such as the Hadjı Kılıç
Mosque and Medresse in
Kayseri or Mahperi Huand
Hatun Complex. Hence,
it is possible that both
buildings of the Çifte
Medrese were built by
the same person.
As a general rule, it
is true that the patrons
of the institutions occupy
the mousoleums (türbe)
which are located at Medresses
and hospitals. For example
son of I. Keyhüsrev, İ.
İzzedddin Keykavus (1210
- 1219) is buried at the
mousoleum of the Hospital
he built in Sivas. There
is indeed a mousoleum
at this building known
as Gıyasiye Medresse but
we know that it does not
belong to Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev
as this Sultan is buried
at the tomb located in
the Konya Alaaddin Mosque.
This being the case, we
can surmise that the tomb
here belongs to Gevher
Nesibe Hatun. This assumption
brings forth a new question.
Why is the tomb not located
at the Hospital section
which was built by Gevher
Nesibe Hatun as its inscription
states but in the medresse
section? Here, we might
find two answers. Either
the hospital was originally
the building where the
tomb is located and the
inscription was later
taken from the portal
of that building and moved
to the portal of the building
currently known as the
Hospital or both buildings
were built by the same
person and the tomb of
its patron was placed
at a suitable point of
the complex. We tend to
belive that the later
of these assumption is
correct and Çifte Medresse
as a whole was built according
to the will of Gevher
Nesibe Hatun and the mousoleum
is occupied by the sultan.
Today Çifte Medresse is
in the Sinan park and
used as a Medical Museum
under the Erciyes University
TELEFONLAR:
(0 352) 437 52 72
(0 352) 231 35 65
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