Hüseyin Gazi Madrasa

Alaca MadrasaHistoric Buildings October 2010

The Hüseyin Gazi Madrasa is a historic educational building located about 3 km south of the Alaca district of Çorum. It is believed to have been commissioned by Alaca Hüseyin Paşa in the 13th century, during the period of the Anatolian Seljuks. In this era, madrasas were built across many parts of Anatolia as important institutions of learning where religious sciences and the positive sciences were taught; they were often arranged together with a mosque, tomb, or soup kitchen, thereby taking on the character of small complexes (külliye).

Architectural Features

The building has a distinctive plan layout that sets it apart from other madrasas. Designed as two interlocking sections, the madrasa features on its eastern side a magnificent portal (taçkapı) made of white and black marble, standing roughly 4.80 m tall. Framed by a simple border, the portal niche is set deep and is decorated with six rows of muqarnas (stalactite) ornamentation. The muqarnas niche and the monumental portal are among the characteristic elements of 13th-century Seljuk stonework frequently encountered in Anatolian madrasa architecture.

Passing through the portal, one reaches a rectangular entrance hall. To the north of the hall is a side section that projects outward in two steps. The hearth in the northern wall of this section indicates that it was used as a soup kitchen (matbah). The madrasa courtyard, reached through the entrance hall, measures approximately 3.30 x 4.35 m, with vaulted rooms arranged around it. Traces around the courtyard show that there was a portico (revak) in front of the madrasa rooms. On one side of the courtyard stands the tomb believed to belong to Alaca Hüseyin Paşa; this reveals that the structure embodies a unified madrasa-tomb composition.

Present Condition

The madrasa has survived to the present day in a ruined state. Although the building has collapsed over time and is largely worn away, it nonetheless retains its significance as an important remnant that provides information about the madrasa architecture of the period through its portal and the traces of its plan.

Visitors to the region may also see the Kalehisar Madrasa, the other Seljuk-period madrasa in the same district, as well as Alacahöyük and the Alacahöyük Museum, which shed light on Alaca’s thousands of years of history. For the general history of the district, see the History of Alaca article.