The Complex of Mehmet I, known as Yesil (Green), was built in 1419-1421 by architect Haci Ivaz Pasa, a vizier to Murad II who was the prefect (subasi) of Bursa at the time. It contains a mosque (see Green Mosque), a mausoleum (see Green Tomb), two madrasas (medrese), baths (hamam), a soup kitchen (imaret), a Kouranic school for boys (sibyan mektebi) and a palace; the palace, the boy's school and one of the two madrasas is not remaining. The mosque and mausoleum were restored by architect Leon Parveillée following the earthquake in 1855 that greatly damaged the foundations of the mosque.
The madrasa is composed of cells protected by an arcade arranged on the three sides of a cloister courtyard with a classroom (dersane) on the forth side. The entrance is located to the northwest, at the opposite side of the courtyard from the classroom. There is a large basin at the center of the courtyard. Byzantine columns and capitals were reused in constructing the arcade. The building is decorated with blue and green tiles on the interior of the classroom and on tympana of windows on the exterior. The archaeology museum of Bursa, established in 1902 at the high school for boys under the auspices of Sultan Abdülhamid, was moved to its current location in the Green Tomb in 1923.
The soup kitchen has been restored and is currently used as a shop for the sale of touristic items.
Sources:
Baykal, Kazim. Bursa ve Anitlari. Türkiye Anit Çevre Turizm Degerlerini Koruma Vakfi: 1982, Istanbul. (Edited reprint of original from 1950).
Goodwin, Godfrey. A History of Ottoman Architecture. Thames and Hudson: London, 1997 (reprint of 1971).
Gabriel, Albert. Une Capitale Turque, Brousse, Bursa. Paris, E. de Boccard, 1958.
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