This is a detail of the main entrance to the Hunat Hatun Külliyesi: the usual complex of mosque, medrese and mausoleum. It was founded in 1235-38 by the Seljuk sultan Alaeddin Kaykobad's favorite Mahperi.

On the picture: Under the ten rows of muqarnas arch moulding are a few verses in elegant calligraphic (Arabic) script. It is a exhortation adressed to the believers, that they may walk the true road.

Muqarnas is a stalactite-like decoration initiated in Anatolia by the Seljuk (in the 11th – 12th century). They imported it from Iran. Later on it continued to be used in the late-Seljuk architecture of the Beyliks (14th century) and by the Ottomans up to the 19th century.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen
Sources: ‘Kayseri Kültür Varlıkları Envanteri’ (Kayseri Belediyesi 2008) & Website of ‘sozgezgini’.