Çifte Minareli Medrese

Top choice in Erzurum


Erzurum's most iconic medieval landmark features twin fluted minarets with detailing in blue glaze on brick. There's a beautifully carved main portal and a distinctive squat spire topping a grand 12-sided domed hall, beneath which the founder of the medrese might have been buried. The site no longer functions as an Islamic seminary but its shell of stone interiors, including a porticoed central mini-garden, are freely open to visitors. It's across a small park from the castle.

The medrese was built in the second half of the 13th century, after the Mongols had taken over the city from the Seljuks. Historians differ over whether it was constructed by Hundi Hatun, the daughter of a Seljuk sultan, or Padisah Hatun, wife of a Mongol khan.


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