Divriği Great Mosque

The Great Mosque and Hospital at Divriği was built in 1228-9 by the local Mengüjekid rulers, and it was among the first sites in Turkey inscribed by UNESCO, in 1985. What justifies that is the stone carving on its four portals. The relief is extraordinarily deep and three-dimensional, in forms with no clear precedent or successor - vast palmettes, interlacing stems, rosettes, medallions and vegetal shapes that swell out of the wall in high relief and have been described variously as baroque, as fantastical and as simply unclassifiable within Seljuk-era work. The north portal is the most elaborate. Inside, the mosque has a stone-vaulted hall on sixteen piers, each vault different, and the adjoining darüşşifa hospital has a domed court with a pool and an elaborately carved portal of its own. The building sits in a small, remote town far up the Euphrates valley, and it has been under a protective structure during long restoration.

History

Divriği was founded in the 9th century under Byzantine rule and settled by Turkish tribes after the battle of Manzikert in 1071, and in the 12th century it was held by a branch of the Mengujekid dynasty, related by marriage to the Seljuks of Konya and patrons of the arts. The north portal of the mosque gives the date 626 AH, 1228-1229, and the name of its patron, Ahmadshah ibn Sulayman, while the hospital, a house of healing, was founded by Turan Malik, daughter of Fakhr al-Din Bahramshah of Erzincan, and the chief architect, Khurramshah of Ahlat, signed both; that Ahmadshah and Turan Malik were married is often assumed but unproven. The complex was restored many times between the 15th and 19th centuries and again in the 20th, a major restoration began in 2015, and it became a World Heritage Site in 1985 (Wikipedia, Divriği Great Mosque and Hospital).

What you'll find

• The carved portals - deep, unclassifiable stone relief.
• The vaulted hall - sixteen piers, each vault different.
• The hospital - the darüşşifa court and its portal.
• The town setting - a small place far up the valley.

When to go

May to June and September to October - Divriği is high and winters are severe. Check whether restoration structures are up, as they have obscured the portals for periods.

Good to know

It is genuinely remote - three hours from Sivas, and the town has minimal facilities. Restoration has repeatedly enclosed parts of the exterior. It is a working mosque; dress and behave accordingly.

Nearby

Sivas and its Seljuk medreses are three hours west; the Euphrates valley runs east.

Key facts