Complex of Sultan Bayezid II


The Complex of Sultan Bayezid II is a külliye located in Edirne, Turkey. It was built in 1488 by the Ottoman architect Mimar Hayruddin for the Sultan Bayezid II.
The complex contains a Dar al-Shifa, and it remained in operation for four centuries from 1488 until the Russo-Turkish War. The hospital was especially notable for its treatment methods for mental disorders, which included the use of music, water sound and scents.
The historic darüşşifa was incorporated into the structure of Edirne-based Trakya University in 1993, and converted into the Complex of Sultan Bayezid II Health Museum in 1997, a museum dedicated to the history of medicine and health matters in general. The complex was inscribed in the Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey in 2016.

Medical school

The health institution was a medical school. It ranked among the best 60 schools in the Ottoman Empire due to its high-paid scholar.
The medical school consisted of 18 student rooms and a classroom surrounding three sides of a courtyard with a shadirvan in the middle. Famous Ottoman travel writer Evliya Çelebi mentions in his book that the students of the medical school were mature physicians, who studied and discussed works of Ancient Greek philosophers, scientists and physicians such as Plato, Socrates, Philip of Opus, Aristotle, Galen and Pythagoras. The physicians, each being a specialist in a different field, tried to find out the best treatment by studying valuable scientific literature on medicine. The books of the medical school are archived in the hand-written books library of Selimiye Mosque today.
According to Evliya Çelebi, following daily wages were paid to the staff and students: