Name of Monument:

Yeşil Külliye (Green Complex)

Location:

Bursa, Turkey

Date of Monument:

Hegira Dhu’l-Hijja 822 / AH December 1419–January 1420

Architect(s) / master-builder(s):

Architect/master builder: Hacı İvaz, son of Ahi Bayezid. Tilework masters: from Tabriz (Iran) under the direction of Muhammad Majnun (‘the Mad’). Kalemişi decoration: Naqqash Ali, son of İlyas Ali; decoration of wooden doors of the tomb: Hacı Ali of Tabriz, son of Ahmed.

Period / Dynasty:

Early Ottoman

Patron(s):

Sultan Mehmed I (c.791–823 / AD 1389–1421).

Description:

The Yeşil Külliye or Green Complex was built on sloping ground and includes a mosque, madrasa, tomb, imaret (soup-kitchen) and caravanserai. The buildings have suffered extensive damage, particularly from an earthquake in AH 1270 / AD 1855. The caravanserai no longer exists. The imaret, ruined until recently, has been restored and is in use as a café.
The mosque, built according to the 'mosque-with-tabhane' plan, consists of a prayer hall and four guest rooms around a central inner courtyard onto which two iwans open. In the middle of the courtyard is a fountain. The two guest rooms on the entrance side have star-vaults, while the others are each covered with a dome. The sultan's loge is found on the upper floor of the entrance side of the building. Corbels on the north wall indicate that a five-bayed portico for latecomers was planned but not built. The minarets at the corners of the north side were built in the AH 13th / AD 19th century.
The portal of the mosque, its outer mihrabs and window tympana are decorated with interlacing floral motifs and inscriptions executed in relief on stone. The interior of the mosque has dense decorative tiling, the walls clad in hexagonal and triangular tiles of dark-blue, dark-green, turquoise and black. The rich decoration on the inside of the arch and ceiling of the mihrab features cuerda seca tiles with floral motifs in shades of white, yellow, shades of blue and green, and gilding. In the guest rooms, the hearth-niches and cupboards are decorated with plasterwork. Kalemişi decoration by Naqqash Ali, son of İlyas Ali was for the most part destroyed in restorations following the earthquake of AH 1270 / AD 1855.
The madrasa to the west of the mosque consists of small rooms arranged around a courtyard and a domed classroom-iwan in the centre of the southern part. The courtyard has porticoes along three sides. Traces indicate that the madrasa was intended to have a second storey, but it was never built.
The most impressive decorations in the madrasa are the tiles in relief covering the panelled square vault over the west iwan and the tile-mosaic decoration in the window tympana. The madrasa serves today as the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts of Bursa.
The tomb belonging to the patron of the complex, Sultan Mehmed I lies south of the mosque. The domed, octagonal tomb also includes a crypt. A monumental mihrab decorated with tiles is found in the south wall. The tomb houses nine cenotaphs including that of Sultan Mehmed I. The outer and inner walls of the tomb are covered with hexagonal and rectangular turquoise tiles. Sultan Mehmed I's cenotaph, including its rectangular base, is decorated with cuerda seca tiles. The inscription on the cenotaph includes the date of Sultan Mehmed I's death: AH Jumada I 824 / AD May 1421. The tomb's wooden doors were decorated by Hacı Ali of Tabriz, son of Ahmed.
The buildings of the complex were decorated by tile-work masters from Tabriz (Iran) under the direction of Muhammad Majnun ('the Mad').

Sultan Mehmed I, who ascended the Ottoman throne following the Interregnum after the defeat at the Battle of Ankara in AH 792 / AD 1402, wanted to display the power of the Ottoman state by building this complex. The complex could not be finished due to untimely death of the sultan. His mausoleum was completed as part of the complex following his death but the second floor of the madrasa could not be built.

How Monument was dated:

The inscriptions on the portal of the mosque indicate that it was built by Hacı İvaz, son of Ahi Bayezid, in Dhu'l-Hijja 822 / December 1419–January 1420 on the orders of Sultan Mehmed I. It is thought that the other buildings of the complex were completed at the same time. An inscription in the mosque's royal loge says that the decoration was completed in Ramadan 827 / August 1424 by Naqqash Ali, son of Ali.

Selected bibliography:

Ayverdi, E. H., Osmanlı Mi'mârisînde çelebi ve II. Sultan Murad Devri 806–55 (1403–51) [The Reigns of çelebi and Murad II in Ottoman Architecture (806–55 / 1403–51)], 2nd edition, Istanbul, 1989.
Baykal, K., Bursa ve Anıtları [Bursa and Its Monuments], 2nd edition, Levent, 1982.
Demiralp, Y., Erken Osmanlı Sanatı, Beyliklerin Mirası [Early Ottoman Art: The Legacy of the Emirates], Madrid, 1999, pp.97–8.
Gabriel, A., Une Capitale Turque Brousse, Bursa, Paris, 1958.
Wilde, H., Brussa, Berlin, 1909.
Beşbaş, N., and Denizli, H., Türkiye'de Vakıf Abideler ve Eski Eserler (Bursa il merkezi) [Waqf Monuments and Antiquities of Turkey (Bursa City-Centre)], III, Ankara, 1983.

Citation of this web page:

Yekta Demiralp "Yeşil Külliye (Green Complex)" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;tr;Mon01;13;en

Prepared by: Yekta DemiralpYekta Demiralp

Yekta Demiralp is an assistant professor in the Department of Archaeology and History of Art, Faculty of Letters, Ege University, Izmir. He was born in Soğucak, Balıkesir, Turkey in 1959. He graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Linguistics, History and Geography, Department of Art History in 1980. He worked as a teacher of history of art and then joined the Department of Archaeology and History of Art, Ege University, as an expert. He became a research assistant in the same department in 1988 and an assistant professor in 1997. He participates in Beçin excavations and has published on the history of Turkish architecture and art.
Translation by: Barry WoodBarry Wood

Barry Wood is Curator (Islamic Gallery Project) in the Asian Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He studied history of art at Johns Hopkins University and history of Islamic art and architecture at Harvard University, from where he obtained his Ph.D. in 2002. He has taught at Harvard, Eastern Mediterranean University, the School of Oriental and African Studies, and the Courtauld Institute of Art. He has also worked at the Harvard University Art Museums and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. He has published on topics ranging from Persian manuscripts to the history of exhibitions., İnci Türkoğluİnci Türkoğlu

İnci Türkoğlu has been working as a tourist guide and freelance consultant in tourism and publishing since 1993. She was born in Alaşehir, Turkey, in 1967. She graduated from the English Department of Bornova Anatolian High School in 1985 and lived in the USA for a year as an exchange student. She graduated from the Department of Electronic Engineering of the Faculty of Architecture and Engineering, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, and the professional tourist guide courses of the Ministry of Tourism in 1991. She worked as an engineer for a while. She graduated from the Department of Art History, Faculty of Letters, Ege University, Izmir, in 1997 with an undergraduate thesis entitled “Byzantine House Architecture in Western Anatolia”. She completed her Master's at the Byzantine Art branch of the same department in 2001 with a thesis entitled “Synagogue Architecture in Turkey from Antiquity to the Present”. She has published on art history and tourism.
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: TR 21