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.