Karatay Tile Works Museum

Emir Celaleddin Karatay commissioned this madrasa in 1251, under the Anatolian Seljuk sultan Keykavus II. The architect is unknown. The building trained students in the study of hadith and Quranic commentary, stayed in use under the Ottomans and was left empty toward the end of the 19th century. It has been a tile museum since 1955.

Begin at the entrance portal. Made of pale and bluish marble and covered in inscriptions and relief patterns, it is considered a masterpiece of Seljuk stonework. Beyond it lies a courtyard that once had a dome and is now open to the sky, and then the main hall, a single-storey room built of Sille stone.

Look up: the dome, topped by a small lantern, is clad in mosaic tiles, and Quranic verses run around its drum and the upper walls. In the corner triangles beneath it you will find the names of prophets and of the four caliphs. The vitrines around the hall show tile and ceramic pieces from the Seljuk era.