A source of healing for the soul and body: Bayezid II Complex
The Darüşşifa in the Bayezid II Complex, which was one of the best hospitals in the Ottoman Empire at the time it was built and which Evliya Çelebi, who visited Edirne in 1682, mentioned as “There is a hospital there that cannot be described with words, cannot be written with pens”, was named the Health Museum with the restoration carried out with the contributions of Trakya University and was deemed worthy of the “Best Health Museum in Europe” award in 2004…
Sultan Bayezid II’s Gift to Edirne
The Sultan Bayezid II Complex was commissioned by Sultan Bayezid II, the son of Fatih Sultan Mehmet and the 8th Ottoman Sultan. The foundations of Sultan Bayezid II were laid in 1484 while he was going on the Akkirman expedition and the group of structures was completed and opened to service in a short period of 4 years. Although it is not supported by definitive historical documents today, there is a widespread view that the complex was built by the architect Hayrettin. Some researchers claim that the architect of the complex was Yakup Şah Bin Sultan Şah.
Units of the II. Bayezid Complex:
According to both the information obtained from the relevant foundation deeds and the common opinion of historians, the complex consists of the following sections;
1) Mosque
2) Madrasa-i Etibba
3) Hospital,
4
) Tabhane,
5) Soup kitchen, 6)
Double bath, 7) Mill,
8) Bridge,
9) Water cabinets (cabinets that turn the mill and draw the water necessary for the bath, garden, etc. from the Tunca River.)
Abdurrahman Hibri Çelebi writes the following about the Complex:
“The late Sultan Bayezid Han had the mosque built in the palace sultani (new palace) district on the banks of the Tunca River completed in H.893 (1488) in the year sülüse Tısayn semanimae. It is a medium-sized and unique mosque with a large dome built on four walls.
It has a Harem like a garden of paradise next to it. It has two elegant and high minarets with one balcony on each side. Again, it has a hospital with its abundant soup kitchen and a madrasah and a bathhouse on both sides and a six-eyed arched water bridge over the Tunca River and a mill and a water wheel adjacent to the bridge.”
Today, some of the structures that make up the Complex (double hamman, mill, water wheel and the elementary school located within the Complex site but whose names are not mentioned in the foundation deed and therefore not included among the units of the Complex) and The Mehterhane (the clock house and 10 shops whose names appear in the foundation charter) were unfortunately demolished, and even the traces of the foundations were erased. There are photographs of the bathhouse, the mill and the water wheel in ruins taken by Dr. Rıfat Osman Bey.
Today, the Bayezid Complex
The sections of the complex, except the mosque, were transferred to Trakya University as a result of a protocol made between Trakya University and the General Directorate of Foundations. As a result of the intensive restoration work of Trakya University, the Darüşşifa and Madrasa sections of the complex were opened to service. The Darüşşifa has been transformed into the Edirne Health Museum today and opened to visitors. With the application, the Edirne Health Museum received the European Museum Award