Bursa Türk İslam Eserleri Müzesi

The Bursa Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art is housed in the 15th-century Yeşil Medrese, part of the Yeşil Complex in the Yıldırım district. The medrese stands to the west of the Yeşil Mosque, slightly below Yeşil Caddesi, in its own walled garden, and visiting the museum also means walking through one of the best preserved examples of early Ottoman medrese architecture. The founder of the complex was Sultan Mehmed I Çelebi; according to the TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam, construction began in 1414 and, according to the inscription over the main portal, was completed in December 1419. The Culture Portal gives the medrese's construction as 1414-1424 and notes that the building is also known as the Sultaniye Medrese. The TDV entry records that the name of Hacı İvaz Paşa is read in the complex's inscriptions as its architect and that the plans are understood to be his. The medrese measures 36 by 38.5 metres and follows a three-iwan plan. The entrance is through the cross-vaulted iwan on the north side; inside, arcades covered with domes and vaults surround three sides of a rectangular courtyard with a fountain at its centre. Behind the arcades are thirteen rooms, one of them the teacher's room, two iwans on the sides and, directly opposite the portal, the lecture hall iwan that projects out of the main block. The walls are built of rubble stone and brick; the rooms are roofed with tiles, and cut limestone and lead sheeting were used only on the lecture hall. The lecture hall is covered by a dome 10 metres across resting on Turkish triangles, and all the columns carrying the courtyard arcades are reused ancient pieces; the pointed arches are built of stone and brick. According to the TDV entry, the fact that only thirteen rooms were built although the endowment deed lists thirty students, together with the unusual height of the lecture hall, shows that the upper floor of the medrese was left unfinished; the Culture Portal likewise writes that the building was designed with two storeys and remained incomplete after the death of Mehmed I. Known as the Bursa Sultanisi, the medrese was taught in by well-known names of Ottoman educational history such as Hızır Bey, Zenbilli Ali Efendi, Ebussuud Efendi and Hoca Sadeddin Efendi. The history of the museum itself is the beginning of museum work in Bursa. According to the Ministry page, the first museum in Bursa was founded on 19 August 1902, when objects collected from the surrounding area through the efforts of the education director Azmi Bey and the boys' high school accountant Reşad Bey were opened to visitors in the school garden and laboratory. Osman Hamdi Bey, director general of museums, formally established the collection in September 1904 as a branch of the Imperial Museum; in 1929 it became a directorate under the name Bursa Museum. The following year the collection moved into the Yeşil Medrese, was arranged by Aziz Ogan, director of the Istanbul Museum, and opened here on 8 April 1930. The building was repaired in 1955 and the museum reopened with a new layout in October 1956. After operating for many years as a mixed museum, the Bursa Museum was reorganised once the archaeological finds had moved to the new building in Kültürpark, and from 22 November 1975 it has operated under the name Bursa Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art. The Culture Portal writes that the medrese has been used as a museum since 1923; the Ministry's chronology is more detailed and is followed here. The museum closed for renovation on 2 December 2016 and reopened on 24 December 2020. The collection belongs to the Seljuk, Beylik and Ottoman periods and spans the 13th to the 20th century. On display are İznik and Kütahya tiles and ceramics, carved and inlaid woodwork, examples of Turkish metalwork, tombak and other metal objects, Seljuk and Ottoman coins, traditional handicrafts and costumes. According to the Ministry page, 445 ethnographic objects and 66 Islamic-period coins are on display, and the open-air display in the garden holds 70 graves, gravestones and inscriptions. The objects are shown by theme in the former student rooms behind the arcades; the lecture hall iwan is the largest room, and large pieces such as carpets are seen there. The courtyard of the medrese is today a well-kept garden; the fountain ringed with box hedges, the cedar trees and the old gravestones set out in the garden make up the second half of the visit. Begin in the courtyard: first walk round under the arcades and look at the pointed arches and the reused column capitals, then enter the rooms in turn. In the tile cases İznik and Kütahya production can be seen side by side; in the metalwork and tombak section compare everyday utensils with the showpieces. Finally step into the lecture hall and look up at the Turkish triangles carrying the dome; this transition element is a distinguishing mark of early Ottoman architecture. According to the Ministry page the museum is open every day and the Müzekart is accepted; check the opening hours and ticket information at muze.gov.tr. Forty-five minutes to an hour is enough for the visit. The Yeşil Mosque and the Yeşil Türbe are a few steps away; seeing the medrese together with them, yet as a separate building, makes the idea of the complex clear as a whole. According to the Culture Portal, the museum is reached by the buses running from central Bursa to the Yeşil neighbourhood; for those walking up to Yeşil from the bazaar quarter, the medrese lies on the western side of the mosque, slightly below the street.