Hagia Sophia Madrasah (15-19th centuries)

This dissertation focuses on the Hagia Sophia Madrasah, an Ottoman madrasah built in the second half of the fifteenth century and in which education continued until the early twentieth century. Built on the northwest side of the Hagia Sophia Mosque by Mehmed the Conqueror himself some time after the conquest of Istanbul, this madrasah had the status of a high-grade madrasah from its foundation until the late nineteenth century and served as an important place in the career stories of both the muderris who taught there and the students who studied there. However, although the Hagia Sophia Mosque and the units that formed a complex around this mosque have been the subject of many studies from different disciplines, there is no independent study on the Hagia Sophia Madrasah, which has survived for centuries as an important part of the same complex. From this point of view, our dissertation aims to contribute to the literature by presenting a panorama of the organization and functioning structure of the Hagia Sophia Madrasah, which is examined under main headings such as the changes in its physical structure from its foundation until the end of the XIXth century, its place and importance in the Ottoman madrasah scale, the educational activities carried out and the muderris who worked here.