Mosque-hospital at Divrigi, decoration

The madrasa-hospital of Divrigi[1] was built in 1228-1229 under the Menjugiqids[2] following architectural principles current in Seljuk Anatolia in the thirteenth century. The decoration of this exceptional monument of Seljuk architecture is remarkable.

Like many Anatolian buildings, Christian and Muslim, the facing in stone assembled with noticeable joints follows a long tradition of stonework; its sobriety and elegance contribute, to an extent, to the decorative scheme of the architecture.

The façade displays the most elaborate of the sculpted stone decoration. It is concentrated on the four portals, the eastern portal having been subsequently transformed into a window. This portal which led to the sultan’s lodge in the mosque is decorated with two bands framing the entrance, containing a delicate geometric and floral design. The triangular muqarnas niche is accentuated by a double moulding in the form of knots on the sides and at the top. This portal is the most classical of the building, of a style found in numerous Anatolian Seljuk buildings, for example the khans[3].

To the north, the high portal constituted the principal entrance to the mosque. Inscribed with the name of the sultan Ala al-Din Keykubad and of its patron, it is framed along its height by two consoles and surmounted by a projecting cornice. Its decoration in relatively high relief comprises a decorative band juxtaposing, without apparent connection, large foliated motifs. The entrance, accentuated by a broken moulded arch, is decorated with an extremely ornamented truncated niche and a variety of enormous geometric and vegetal designs juxtaposed without any sense of unity of the whole. The scale and arrangement of these curious designs can also be seen at the Ince Minare madrasa (Konya, 1260-1265).

The western entrance, resting on a stepped base, is set in a trefoil niche, the vaulting of which (decorated with stylised muqarnas) rests on two small columns. These columns together with the geometric and floral motifs recall the decorations of Armenian manuscripts of the thirteenth century[4]. At the sides, triangular muqarnas niches are surmounted by sculpted double-headed eagles, a typically Seljuk motif[5], used in the Roman and Byzantine empires, in pre-Islamic Turkey and widely employed in the Islamic world[6].

The fourth portal, the most imposing of the western facade, leads to the hospital by a small door situated in a broken moulded double arch. The tympanum is pierced by a rectangular window with a central column. The contrast between the zones decorated with elaborate sculpted relief, in places reminiscent of stucco, and the zones left unembellished, together with the sometimes illogical arrangement of motifs, creates a ‘baroque’ impression, common in Anatolian monuments. Amongst other decorative elements, certain circular medallions are decorated with faces representing perhaps the sun and the moon.

The interior of the mosque-hospital presents a decorative development which, while less exuberant than the portals, displays all the virtuosity of the stonework technique of the Seljuk period. The remarkable variety of vaulting recalls Seljuk brick architecture of Iran[7].

The stone mihrab is sculpted with concaves and convex motifs. The ebony minbar, signed by the Georgian craftsman, displays a decoration of floral, geometric and epigraphic motifs executed in different techniques (openwork, in the round and kündekari). In its quality, it represents the height of woodcarving of Seljuk Anatolia.

In the hospital, the main iwan, to the east, is soberly decorated with an imposing shell motif on the east wall.

[2] The Turkmen principality created by the Sekjuk sultan Alp Arslan was governed from 1072 by Menjugekm Ghâzi.

[3] Sultan Han, Anatolia, route from Konya to Aksaray, 1229.

[4] Frontispiece of the gospel by the painter Yovasap, Skewra, Cilicie, 1273, Istanbul, Library of the Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi, inv. 122, f° 9b-10a.

[5] Tile with double-headed bird of prey, Anatolia, first half of C13th, painted ceramic under glaze, Qubadabad Palace, lake Beysehir, Konya, Museum of the madrasa Karatay, inv. 1143.

[6] Bain with eagles, Iran, C12th - C13th , earthenware, incised and painted on slip under transparent glaze Paris, musée du Louvre, inv. OA 8175.

Double-headed eagle, Djezireh, end of C12th – beginning C13th, fritware, painting under transparent glaze, Paris, musée du Louvre, inv. OA 8178.

[7] South dome and north dome of the Great Mosque of Ispahan, Iran, end C11th.