Overview and history
The Yıldırım Bayezid Complex in the centre of Mudurnu comprised a mosque, a madrasa and a double bath-house; the endowment inscription of the bath also points to a soup kitchen. It was built in the last quarter of the 14th century by Bayezid I while still a prince, and the architect’s name is carved on the bath’s keystone: Ömer son of İbrâhim.
The mosque has no inscription; the TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam dates it, from the bath’s inscription of AH 784 (1382–83), to the same years or shortly before (some sources give 1374).
The mosque
The Yıldırım Bayezid Mosque, whose 19.65-metre dome rests on squinches with no internal supporting piers, is one of the earliest large single-domed Ottoman mosques. The minaret was moved to its present position in 1744 and rebuilt in brick after the earthquake of 1957; the mosque closed after the 1999 earthquake and reopened at the end of 2001.
Local interpretations have grown up around the building:
- Seen from inside, the proportion of dome to body is said to have earned it the local name “the egg dome”, the egg being read as a symbol of abundance and rebirth.
- The rumi spiral and crescent above the mihrab are read as expressing infinity, the cycle of life and the idea “from God we came and to Him we return”.
- Legend has it that the architect, Ömer son of İbrâhim, was lame and deliberately left out one of the inner supports — read as his “signature”.
The double bath-house
The complex’s double bath-house of AH 784 (1382–83), with its signed inscription and a changing-hall dome of about 20 metres, has a stop of its own: Yıldırım Bayezid Bath-house.
The madrasa
Recorded in the yearbooks of the Bolu province as the “Magnificent Madrasa”, it was among the notable teaching institutions of the Ottoman state. According to records from 1652 it was a “50-paye” madrasa — a high rank reserved for leading teachers of the day (the paye was the daily stipend in akçe, such as 20, 25, 40 or 50).
Among its renowned teachers were Kestelli Muslihiddin Mustafa Efendi, Eğri Abdi and Ataullah Ahmed Efendi, who held important posts both in Mudurnu and across the Ottoman lands.
The building no longer stands (it was removed in 1953). Even so, its importance for learning and its influence on the region are clear from the records.
Today
- The mosque is open for worship, and the bath-house still stands.
- According to the TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam, the madrasa was used as a prison in 1922 and completely removed in 1953; it stood north or north-east of the mosque. The Pertev Naili Boratav Culture House in the arasta is a separate building.
- Local accounts say the heating channel (tunnel) between the bath and the mosque was used until the 1960s and lost its function with later road works.