A medrese at the Muradiye complex that is now used as a medical centre.

On the picture: The large iwan of the Muradiye Medresesi (school/college), as seen from the open courtyard of the school. It was reportedly built by Murat II during the second half of the 15th century; the exact date is not known, since no building inscription was found. Originally this room was open, without glass windows.
The building consists of a large iwan-shaped and domed entrance building in the north, faced by an even larger (and also domed) ‘dershane’/classroom in the south, on the other side of the open courtyard, which measures 17 x 17 m. The courtyard has a marble water basin-with-fountain in its center.
There are 2 x 5 small rooms along the west and east sides of the courtyard, where the students housed. There were another four rooms adjacent to the entrance building (two on each side).
The medrese was restored in 1603 and 1950. After the last repairs, it was used until recently as a medical center; it is planned to become a ‘Vakıf Müzesi’ (Museum of the Religious Foundation).

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 half open rooms looking out at a central yard. The iwan as used in Anatolian Seljuk ‘medrese’ and later in early-Ottoman ‘Bursa-type’ mosques was imported from Islamic Persia, but was invented much earlier and fully developed in Mesopotamia.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: ‘Vakıf Abideler ve eski Eserler III’ - Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü, Ankara 1983 & Wikipedia.