Kubadabad Sarayı

The Kubadabad Palace is an Anatolian Seljuk palace complex on a rocky peninsula at the foot of the Anamas Mountains, on the southwestern shore of Lake Beyşehir. The Culture Portal and the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam describe it as the only Seljuk palace building to have survived and the only Seljuk palace complex whose plan is known. The palace was commissioned by Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I. The Culture Portal relates that the sultan was struck by the beauty of the lake while travelling from Kayseri to Antalya and ordered a palace to be built here. According to Wikipedia, the remains lie on the Beyşehir to Isparta road, within the boundaries of the village of Gölyaka. Sources give slightly different dates for the construction. TDV and Wikipedia say that building went on between 1226 and 1236, while the Culture Portal says the palace was built in 1236. The work was directed by Sadeddin Köpek, who was both an architect and a decorative painter and also served as the sultan's master of the hunt. The Seljuk historian Ibn Bibi writes that the sultan took a close interest in the design of the palace and even drew a sketch himself to fix the position of the rooms. Sadeddin Köpek is also known to have built a small palace for himself within the complex. The palace was forgotten for centuries, and its ruins were thought to be Byzantine. According to the Konya governorship, İbrahim Hakkı Konyalı and Osman Turan pointed out that the palace should lie near Beyşehir, and the Konya museum director Zeki Oral identified the site in 1949. The first scientific excavations were carried out by Katharina Otto-Dorn in 1965 and 1966, and they revealed the main units of the palace. Excavations resumed in 1980 under Rüçhan Arık and have continued without interruption since. Wikipedia notes that since 2017 the excavations have been directed by Muharrem Çeken. The excavations have uncovered a large group of buildings. Within an area enclosed by a low wall are two main buildings, called the Great Palace and the Small Palace, and the remains of about twenty other structures. TDV and Wikipedia write that these include a two-part boathouse, a bathhouse, an oven, a kitchen, a storehouse and soldiers' quarters, and that the complex also contained a large hunting park. The Great Palace measures about 50 by 35 metres, with a broad terrace in front of it reaching towards the lake. The raised section of the central hall on the lake side has been identified as the throne iwan. The part on the shore covers about 5,200 square metres, and the part on the small island opposite, known as Kız Kalesi, about 3,000 square metres. What made the palace famous are the tiles that covered its walls. Excavation showed that tiles lined the walls of the throne hall and the rooms up to a height of two metres. TDV calls this collection the group with the widest range of figures in Anatolian Seljuk tile art. White star shaped figural tiles alternate with turquoise cross shaped tiles. The tiles show courtiers sitting cross-legged, hunting scenes, real and imaginary animals and mythological creatures. One of the best known examples is a double-headed eagle with the word al-sultan on its breast. Most of these tiles and moulded stucco reliefs are now displayed in the Karatay Medrese Tile Museum in Konya. What you see on the site today is an excavation, not a standing palace. Foundation walls, rows of rooms and protective roofs over some sections follow one another across the flat ground by the lake. As you walk among the remains, trace the room plans and go to the lake side edge of the terrace; that is where you best understand why the palace was built on this shore. On the small island just off the shore are the remains of Kız Kalesi, which is thought to have protected the palace. The Konya governorship notes that excavations are still continuing, so some areas may be closed to visitors. Check current visiting conditions with the Konya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism. The Konya governorship gives the distance from Beyşehir as about 60 kilometres to the west. Public transport to the site is not practical, so you need a private vehicle. Seeing the tiles in the Karatay Medrese before or after your visit completes the picture that the excavation site leaves unfinished.