Pervane Medrese (Turkish: Pervane Medresesi) is a historic 13th-century madrasa (Islamic school) located in the center of Sinop, Turkey, on the Sinop Peninsula on the Black Sea coast. It stands adjacent to the Alaaddin Mosque, which lies to its south across the road.
Background
The madrasa was built in 1265 by Mu'in al-Din Sulaiman Parwana (known as Pervâne), a vizier of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate. It was constructed to commemorate the recapture of Sinop from the Empire of Trebizond in 1262. After the Seljuk reconquest, the sultan granted Sinop to Pervane as an iqta (fief), and he became the de facto ruler of the region.
The building continued to be used as a madrasa under the Candar beylik and later the Ottoman Empire. Following the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, madrasas were replaced by modern secular schools, and the Pervane Medrese was closed. From 1932 onward, it served as a depot for archaeological and ethnographic artifacts collected since 1921. It was formally established as a museum in 1941 and functioned as such until 1970, when the museum collection was moved to a new building. In 2002, the building was transferred to the Sinop governorship. Today, it operates as a tourist bazaar housing souvenir shops, cafes, and restaurants.
Architecture
The building measures approximately 38 m (125 ft) in length and 28 m (92 ft) in width, oriented north–south. It features a marble portal as the main entrance on the southern side. The structure includes two rooms on each side of the portal, with five student cells arranged along each side of the building. The open courtyard contains a central fountain. The tombs of an admiral named Gazi Chelebi and his daughter are also located within the madrasa grounds. The architecture is a well-preserved example of 13th-century Anatolian Seljuk design, characterized by intricate stonework, geometric patterns, and a two-iwan, open-courtyard plan.
