The Gök Medrese (Blue seminary from 1277) with its impressive entrance now functions as a museum. Most of these pictures are from slides.

On the picture: The open inner courtyard (or: atrium) of the medrese, with arched galleries along both long sides, a closed entrance hall (at the side where the photograph stood), opposite to the large iwan that closes the yard.

An iwan (Persian & Turkish: ‘eyvān’) is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. This architectural form can be used for entrances, but also (as it is the case here) to create halfopen rooms looking out at a central yard. The iwan as used in Anatolian Seljuk medreses was imported from Islamic Persia, but was invented much earlier and fully developed in Mesopotamia.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen
Source: ‘Guides Bleus: Turquie’ – Edition 1986.