Kılıç Ali Paşa Madrasa
Audio Narration:
Construction Year:
1578-1588
Location:
Beyoğlu, İstanbul
Ordered By:
Grand Admiral Kılıç Ali Pasha
Architect:
Mimar Sinan
Changes After Construction:
- The complex is part of the group of structures built in 988/1580–81; it has been stated that the madrasa may have been designed by Mimar Sinan and completed after his death in 1588.
- Because of the structures built in the 19th century, the madrasa and bath units were enclosed from the surrounding area; with the raising of the ground level in front of the entrance, the level of the madrasa remained lower.
- A repair/expenditure process concerning the madrasa has been identified through the imperial decree dated 28 September 1903 and the document dated 4 October 1903.
- The madrasa was transferred to the Child Protection Agency for many years and used as a dispensary, and the structure underwent substantial alteration during this period.
- The library collection attached to the madrasa was transferred to the Süleymaniye Library in 1918.
- It has been recorded that the structure was vacated around 1995 and that the interventions inside it were largely left in place.
Prominent Features:
- The structure has a square plan; it consists of domed cells around a porticoed courtyard, and it has a large domed classroom-masjid unit projecting toward the graveyard.
- The madrasa has an arrangement of seventeen cells around a porticoed courtyard, covered by eighteen domes.
- The madrasa was built with a mixed technique of stone masonry and brick bonding beams.
- The library established within the madrasa in 1216/1801 was operated under a waqf system, and a significant part of its collection consisted of works on the science of tafsir.
- The library collection was transferred to the Sultan Selim Library in 1914, then to the Süleymaniye Library in 1918, and is preserved there today.