Architectural Structure and Functions of the Külliye of Sofu Mehmed Paşa in Sofia with a Special Focus on its Medrese and Kütüphane

Abstract

During the Ottoman rule, especially in its early centuries, high-ranking officers founded large waqf establishments which provided free education, health care and protection and served as poor-relief social institutions. One of these multifunctional complexes which served the whole Muslim community was founded in the center of the European province Rumeli by Sofu Mehmed Paşa, an Ottoman governor during the reign of Sultan Süleyman I. The waqf külliye in Sofia designed by the great architect Mimar Sinan comprised a Friday mosque, a medrese with a manuscript library, a caravanserai and guest-houses, a bath-house, a hospice, a public kitchen, a bakery with storerooms. Various archival sources from the 17th - mid-19th centuries, provided rich data about its role in the economic, socio-cultural development and everyday life of the population and the guests of Sofia. The available data also enables Sofu Mehmed Paşa’s medrese and its significance in the Ottoman education system to be examined.