Tomb of Çandarli Hayreddin Pasa

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ArchNet Site ID	AS04308
Variant Names	Çandarli Hayreddin Pasa Türbesi, Halil Hayreddin Pasa Türbesi, Halil Hayrüddin Pasa Türbesi, Kara Halil Türbesi
Street Address	In cemetery outside of Lefke Gate of Iznik
Location	Iznik, Turkey
Client	Çandarli family
Date	1387
Style/Period	Ottoman
Century	14th
Building Type	funerary
Building Usage	mausoleum
Keywords	stone

Notes

Çandarli Hayreddin Pasa (known as Kara Halil) was a prominent statesman and commander who served as the first military judge (kazasker) and grand vizier (sadrazam) under Murad I, initiating a century of Çandarli grand vizierate. He died in Serez in 1387 (789 A.H.) and was buried in Iznik where he was appointed the local judge (kadi) after the Ottoman conquest. The tomb of Çandarli Hayreddin Pasa is located in the cemetery outside the Lefke Gate. It consists of two domed rooms with entered through the larger western unit. This room contains fifteen sarcophagi without existing inscriptions, seven of which are known to belong to members of the Çandarli family. A set of descending steps lead to the second room, crowned by a lower dome with oculus under which the marble sarcophagi of Hayreddin Pasa and his son Ali Pasa (died 809 A.H.) are placed. Raised on tall plinths, the sarcophagi are decorated with scriptures in relief and marked with obituaries in Persian carved onto the tombstone. A third sarcophagus, found in the northeast corner of the room, is said to be of Davud Pasa, the grandson of Hayreddin. The construction method varies from three layers of brick to one layer of stone in the western room to alternating layers of brick and stone in the inner room. Damaged during the War of Independence in 1922, the tomb was subsequently restored in 1928. Two other Çandarli viziers, Ibrahim Pasa (son of Hayreddin) and his son Halil Pasa are buried with their families in separate mausoleums inside the city walls of Iznik. Sources: 1943. Iznik:Tarih ve Müze Komitesi Yayini. Istanbul: Kenan Matbaasi. 1972. Türkiye'de Vakif Abideler ve Eski Eserler. Volume IV. Ankara: Vakiflar Genel Müdürlügü Yayinlari. Ayverdi, Ekrem Hakki. 1966. Osmanli mi'marisinin ilk devri : Ertugrul, Osman, Orhan Gaaziler, Hüdavendigar ve Yildirim Bayezid 630-805 (1230-1402) : I. Istanbul: Baha Matbaasi. Eyice, Semavi. 1988. Iznik: Tarihçesi ve Eski Eserleri (Nicaea: The History and the Monuments). Istanbul: Sanat Tarihi Arastirmalari Dergisi Yayinlari. Yalman, Bedri. 1999. Iznik (Nicaea). Bursa: Governorship of Bursa, Provincial Directorate of Tourism.