According to one, only the portal of the great han erected by Giyaseddin
Keyhusrev has survived, the other sections of the building having been radically altered during its conversion
into a medrese
According to another hypothesis, the medrese was built with materials removed from EĞRİDİR HAN (also known as GIYASEDDİN KEYHÜSREV HAN after its founder) located 3 km. from the Gelendost exit from Eğridir. This is now in a very ruined state, with only the wall fillings still standing, all the stone facings having been removed. But the plan of Eğridir Han can be clearly seen to be that of a Seljuk caravanserai, while in size it displays the monumental dimensions of a Sultan Han. In a historical work published in 1940, F. Erten
describes the han as being in a very ruinous condition and as possessing no inscription.
Since a large han was already in existence only 3 km to the north of Eğridir, it is obvious that there would have been no need for a second large han in Eğridir itself. This strengthens the supposition that the portal was removed from the han and re-erected as part of the medrese.
On the other hand, the text of the inscription would appear to indicate that a han erected on this site by Giyaseddin Keyhiisrev was converted into a medrese by Dündar Bey. At the moment, we lack the necessary information to prove which of the two hypotheses outlined above is the correct one.
We know from the notes kept by the great Arab traveller Ibn Batuta that
while he was in Eğridir he visited the medrese and was entertained there. Used for a time as a prison, the TAŞ MEDRESE was recently saved from
T a ş M e d r e s e , n o w u s e d a s a m a r k e t E ğ r id i r , w i t h
T a ş M e d r e s e on th e le ft a n d H ı z ı r B e y M o s q u e ( U l u C a m i ) o p p o s i t e
O
ne of the finest of the great stone-built monuments of medieval Anatolia is the TAŞ (Stone) or DÜNDAR BEY MEDRESE at Eğridir.The Taş Medrese is included in all the sources dealing with Anatolian Seljuk hans or Anatolian medreses on the strength of the information given in the medrese inscription, but various conclusions have been reached concerning the original form of the building and the changes it later underwent.
The TAŞ MEDRESE, the plan of which in no way resembles that of a han, displays all the distinguishing features of a
two-storeyed Anatolian medrese with eyvan. Our reason for including it in a series on Anatolian Seljuk Hans lies in the information given by the inscriptions over the portal and in the pediment of the eyvan.
The white marble portal of the DÜNDAR BEY MEDRESE, with its wealth of decoration consisting of acanthus boughs, geometric motifs and the spiral fluting on the corner pillars, constitutes one of the finest examples of Seljuk stone-work.
The predominant element in this composition is the decorative inscription in Jeli Seljuk Thuluth forming a border running around the top and sides of the portal. An interesting feature of this inscription is its being one of the first examples of the use of a lengthy text as a decorative element.
Both this long inscription bordering the portal and the Thuluth inscription forming a frieze in the pediment of the eyvan inform us that the building was constructed as a han in H. 6 3 4 /A.D. 1236-7 during the reign of Giyaseddin Keyhusrev, the son of Alaeddin Keykubad, and that it was converted into a medrese in H 701 / A.D. 1301-3 by Hamidoğlu İlyas Bey. A number of different theories have been devised on the basis of the information offered by these two inscriptions.
H ı z ı r B e y M o s q u e ( U l u C a m i ) i m m e d i a t e l y o p p o s i t e T a ş M e d r e s e
Wflíafc
R e m a i n s o f th e w a l l s o f th e
G i y a s e d d i n il o r E ğ r i d i r H a n complete destruction by an extremely
3 k m b e y o n d E ğ r i d i r . , . . . , . , . , . , ..
unskilful restoration, during which the second storey was completely ignored and the two-storeyed medrese reduced to a one-storey building.
At the present day the building is used as a rather chaotically arranged market. The most remarkable architectural feature in the medrese, apart from the portal, consists of the somewhat damaged eagle-like figures set against various vegetal motifs, obviously belonging to previous civilisations, to be seen carved on the blocks of stone on the marble columns supporting the portico. Other materials belonging to older civilisations include the column capitals embellished with pomegranate bough and a variety of leaf motifs.
The Taş or Dündar Bey Medrese is built directly against the city defence wall, and immediately opposite this, also built directly against the same city defence wall, is another Hamidoğlu monument, the HIZIR BEY MOSQUE, whose founder, Hızır Bey, very probably the elder of the three sons of Dündar Bey, succeeded his father as ruler of Hamideli.
In the section of the defence wall between these two buildings, one of which was built by the father and the other by the son, are to be found a castle gate and a minaret. The stone blocks bearing Seljuk motifs arranged in irregular fashion in the wall are very probably materials from the Eğridir Han erected by Giyaseddin Keyhüsrev which had been left over from the construction of the Dündar Bey Medrese.
During the reign of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan Kılıç Arslan III, a Turkoman tribe had settled in the vicinity of Eğridir under the leadership of HAMİD BEY. In the 14th century this tribe was gathered into a BEYLİK by Dündar Bey, the grandson of Hamid Bey, and became known as the HAMİDOĞULLARI after Dündar Bey’s grandfather. Dündar Bey extended the territory of the Beylik towards the south to include the province
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Kişisel Arşivlerde Istanbul Belleği Taha Toros Arşivi
