Evolution of Ornamentations in Madrasa Architecture in Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate in Relation to Economic and Political Context: A Study on Façade Ornamentations

Abstract

Within the Mesopotamian region and Anatolia, one of the most important periods was during the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate. This is especially important due to its role in creating the foundations for Turkish architecture in Anatolia, which was later developed into the popular Ottoman architecture style. Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate architecture is highly valuable to its region, yet it does not have a recognizable amount of research done by foreign researchers. As an ancestor of the Ottoman Empire that is highly known, the information on the Seljuk Empire, cultural evolution, architectural implementation, and technologies is unknown outside Turkey. As a result, this creates the intention of performing a thesis on the topic to introduce Anatolian Seljuk Empire architecture to fill a research gap. The Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate was a settlement that gained its independence from the Great Seljuk Empire that was established in the 1050s and collapsed in the 1300s, which proceeded with the establishment of the Ottoman Empire. This Sultanate consisted of people who originated from central Asia, belonged to nomadic Oghuz Turks, and settled in Anatolia.
The Seljuk rulers used madrasas to reinforce their political legitimacy and cultivate an educated class of scholars and bureaucrats. For the Seljuks, the construction of madrasas was a way of showing the value of education as well as investing in raising knowledgeable citizens that could govern the state effectively. This eventually benefited the country by expanding the Turkish culture and developing strong economic dominance in Anatolia. These institutions were often financed by the state and by donors and played a key role in shaping the intellectual and cultural landscape in the Sultanate. Therefore, within the Sultanate, education and economic systems were intertwined and worked together to expand and create cultural and political dominance in the region. Knowing the value of madrasas and their representation of economic and political influence, the architectural expressions of these structures can also carry symbolic meaning concerning political situations. This was present in various uses of ornamentation that originate from central Asia, Islam, or a synthesis of these two.
Therefore, the research focuses on diving into the ornamentation of madrasah (school or university) architecture in Seljuk Empire architecture and analysing the evolution of ornamentation on the façades of three selected madrasas. This analysis is performed with the economic and political context of the Sultanate to determine a potential relationship between them. Therefore, the research question focuses on: How is the evolution of ornamentation in Madrasa architecture in the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate in relation to economic and political context? This paper presents economic and political connections to ornamentation implemented in Sircali Madrasa, Karatay Madrasa, and Gok Madrasa. The madrasas are specifically chosen at several crucial moments in Sultanate history to strengthen the potential link between expressions of ornamentation and context.