Long recognized as an iconic and peerless monument of medieval Anatolia, the Mosque and Hospital Complex of Divriği (1228-29) has inspired a number of modern interpretations as ornate as the famed decorations of its exquisite portals. The aura of exceptionality bestowed on the complex is an understandable response to its artistic appeal but this aura has, over time, encouraged a haze of dissociative interpretation. Rather than assessing the validity of the various interpretations, this presentation aims to interrogate the basis of the perception of Divriği’s exceptionality and to consider the consequences of “monumental exceptionalism” for the study of the Islamic architecture of medieval Anatolia.

This event will be held in English.

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Oya Pancaroğlu received her PhD in Islamic art and architecture from Harvard University in 2000 and is currently Professor in the Department of History, Boğaziçi University. Her research interests include Islamic architecture in medieval Anatolia, ceramic production in the medieval Persianate world and figural representation in Islamic art. Her recent publications include “İsmail Ağa, Beyşehir and Architectural Patronage in 14th-Century Central Anatolia” (in: Cultural Encounters in Anatolia in the Medieval Period: The Ilkhanids in Anatolia. Ankara: VEKAM, 2019) and “Conditions of Love and Conventions of Representation in the Illustrated Manuscript of Varqa and Gulshah” (in: The Image Debate: Figural Representation in Islam and Across the World. London: Gingko, 2019).

Suzan Yalman is Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology and Art History, Koç University. She completed her doctoral degree at the Harvard University. Her current research focuses on History of Islamic Art and Architecture; Medieval Anatolian Architecture and Urban History; Cross-cultural exchange in the Medieval era. She has held multiple fellowships, including the “Art, Space and Mobility in the Early Ages of Globalization” Postdoctoral Fellowship, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Barakat Trust Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Oxford University, ANAMED Junior Fellowship, Archaeological Institute of America, Olivia James Traveling Fellowship, American Research Institute in Türkiye, Samuel H. Kress Fellowship, among others.