Akşemseddin Tomb

Akşemseddin was a scholar, physician and Sufi master, the teacher of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror and often called the spiritual conqueror of Istanbul. After his death in 1459 the sultan had a tomb built for him, completed in 1464.

The tomb is built of cut stone on a hexagonal plan and covered by a dome. Each side of the body has a pointed-arched niche with rectangular windows, and the second row of windows has pointed arches with plaster tracery. The entrance is in the north-east corner, in a pointed niche with the building inscription above it.

Inside lie the sarcophagi of Akşemseddin and his sons. His own is made of walnut and decorated with relief script, a fine example of Ottoman woodworking. Born in Damascus in 1390, he settled in Kavak, near Samsun, as a child, later became a professor at the Osmancık Madrasa and, on the advice of others, became a disciple of Hacı Bayram-ı Veli in Ankara.