Divriği Great Mosque and Hospital

Overview

In a small mountain town of Sivas province, far from any tourist trail, stands an astonishing building. There, the portals of the Divriği Great Mosque and Hospital explode with stone carving so deep and dense that it looks more like lace, coral or jungle than masonry. No wonder UNESCO listed the complex as early as 1985.

Admittedly, it takes effort to get here. Still, anyone who loves architecture should see these portals at least once, especially now that a long restoration ended in 2024. From Sivas, our Sivas and Divriği tour pairs it with the city’s madrasas in one day.

Divriği, Stone Carved Like Lace

The Divriği Great Mosque and Hospital, in Turkish Divriği Ulu Cami ve Darüşşifası, stands in the upper town of Divriği, below the citadel. The local Mengücek dynasty built it in 1228–1229. The complex joins a mosque and a hospital that share one wall. A tomb chamber is also attached to the hospital.

Its carving and its mix of styles make it a landmark of Anatolian architecture. The Divriği Great Mosque reopened in May 2024 after a restoration that had begun in 2015.

History of the Divriği Great Mosque

The Mengücek patrons

First, after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, Turkish tribes settled the region. In the 12th century, the Mengücek dynasty ruled Divriği and Erzincan as allies of the Seljuks of Konya. These rulers were also great patrons of art, science and literature, which may explain how such gifted craftsmen came to this small town.

A prince, a princess and an architect

An inscription on the north portal names the patron of the mosque as Ahmadshah, a Mengücek ruler of Divriği, and gives the date 1228–1229. Another inscription, on the hospital, names Turan Malik, daughter of the ruler Fakhr al-Din Bahramshah of Erzincan. The chief architect also signed his name inside both buildings: Khurramshah of Ahlat. For his hometown on Lake Van, see our Ahlat tour.

Restorations

Over the centuries, builders restored the complex several times between the 15th and 19th centuries, and again in the 20th. Then, in 2015, a major restoration began. After several pauses, it was completed, and the mosque reopened in May 2024.

What to See at the Divriği Great Mosque

The north portal

To begin with, the main entrance on the north side is the most famous part of the complex. Its high-relief carving is so dense that motifs seem to grow out of the stone. For example, look for stars, palmettes and plant forms layered on top of one another.

The hospital portal and the Darüşşifa

Next door, the hospital, the Darüşşifa or “house of healing”, has its own portal on the west side. A great pointed arch frames it, with a window in the center. Its carving is just as fine, although less dense and in places unfinished. Inside, rooms and iwans surround a covered courtyard with a small pool, and one room served as the dynastic tomb.

The interior of the mosque

Inside the mosque, by contrast, stone piers carry the vaults, and the central bay was once open to the sky. Along the qibla wall, for instance, survives the carved wooden minbar of 1243, signed by İbrahim of Tiflis. However, some carved panels from the royal platform are now in the Museum of Pious Foundations in Ankara.

A Small Town Far from the Highways

Divriği is a small town of red roofs below a ruined citadel. It was founded in the 9th century under Byzantine rule, and its old upper town still gathers around the mosque and the castle hill.

How to Visit Divriği Great Mosque

Getting to Divriği

• From Sivas: drive southeast to Divriği, in the same province.
• By train: Divriği is a stop on the Eastern Express between Ankara and Kars.
• Combine it with other Seljuk monuments of Central Anatolia, such as those of Konya near Çatalhöyük.

Local tips for the Divriği Great Mosque

• Allow time for both portals, the mosque on the north and the hospital on the west.
• Dress modestly, because the mosque is still used for prayer.