Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği

Under the President’s auspices, the project and application studies to protect the Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği, which has been on the World Heritage List on UNESCO since 1985, have been conducted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the General Directorate of Foundations and the Governorate of Sivas.

Undertaken though President Gül’s aegis during his visit to the city of Sivas in 2008, the Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği is the first cultural monument under his auspices.

In the complex of the mosque are 11 tablets, 6 of which bear the construction’s name and date and 6 of which show the master’s name. We learn from these inscriptions that the mosque was built from 1228-1229 on the order of Ahmed Shah of Mengücek during the Seljuki Sultan, Alaeddin Keykubat I, era and that the hospital (Darüşşifa) was built simultaneously with the mosque on the order of Turan Melek Sultan, daughter of the Mengücek ruler of Erzincan, Fahreddin Behram Shah.

Entitled “The Doors of Heaven”, a photo exhibition for the Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği, which is called the Al-Hamra of Anatolia, was held in Paris from March-April 31, 2010 as part of the activities during the Season of Turkey. More than 10.000 people visited the exhibition also held in Metz, Fameek and the Council of Europe building respectively.