Ottoman medical institutions an architectural analysis

Abstract

From the architectural point of view, the hospitals erected during the ottoman era are among the least-studied types of structures. Hospitals constructed especially in the 15th and 16th centuries reflect the architectural features of the Seljuk, and even early-Islamic structures. The earliest hospitals are only known to us through literary references which provide information mostly concerning their administration. Those that have survived from the early-Islamic period, on the other hand, form the origin of Ottoman hospital architecture. Actually, we can trace the origin of Ottoman hospitals to an even earlier date where we find the origin of medreses, in the Central Asian houses or Buddhist viharas. The remarkable changes and improvements that took place in the development of medical science and the treatment methods through centuries are not observed in the architecture of the hospitals. The major architectural changes in the Ottoman hospitals started after the 17th century with the influences of the west. Those erected during the 15th and 16th centuries bear the characteristics of the Classical era and actually represent ottoman hospital architecture. While following the pre-Ottoman tradition with their plan-scheme they created a peculiar style in the arrangement of spaces as well as in some architectural elements. Although they were the successors of the Seljuk hospitals, unlike them, they were built as a part of a great complex, and in addition to their general arrangement they are more orderly, geometrical and plain in their mass. Some changes are also observed in the architectural elements. The fact that these hospitals were always planned in a complex and in close relationship with the medrese shows that they were not just a shelter for the sick, but that illnesses were treated by physicians who were trained in the medical school, and that the vakıf met the expenses and provided free cure to the patients. This emphasizes the importance given to health institutions and medical developments during the ottoman period.