Köprülü Mehmed Paşa Madrasa

Audio Narration:

Construction Year:

1662

Location:

Fatih, İstanbul

Ordered By:

Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha

Architect:

Unknown

Changes After Construction:
  • The widening of Divanyolu in 1871 removed the portico in front of the classroom-masjid door; the door was renewed according to the inscription dated 1873.
  • The widening of Divanyolu demolished some of the rooms in the wing of the madrasa extending toward the street; in this wing, the façade was rearranged according to 19th-century taste.
  • In 1869, the madrasa was active.
  • The 1894 earthquake damaged the madrasa.
  • In the assessment dated 2 September 1914, the structure was partly in need of repair; despite this, it continued to function.
  • In the assessment dated 1 January 1919, the madrasa was recorded as having been used by fire victims.
  • In recent years, repairs have been carried out; the structure has been brought under a civil/waqf institutional use framework.
Prominent Features:
  • It is also known as Köprülü Madrasa.
  • The complex was established around the core of the classroom-masjid (Dar al-Qurra) and the madrasa rooms (Dar al-Hadith), together with shop, fountain, tomb, and sebil components; the sebil has not survived to the present.
  • The madrasa courtyard is entered through the gate on the Peykhâne Street façade; the rooms are arranged in an “L” shape on two sides of the porticoed courtyard.
  • The structure contains a total of 10 rooms, nine full and one half.
  • The porticoes are carried by marble columns and baklava capitals; the rooms and portico units are covered with domes.
  • There is a well and a marble water reservoir in the courtyard.