overview
Sivas sits at the geographic heart of Anatolia, commanding the high plateau where east-west and north-south routes have crossed for millennia. This centrality made the city a prize for every empire that sought to control the Anatolian interior, from the Hittites who first settled the region to the Seljuk Turks who transformed it into one of the most architecturally magnificent cities of the medieval Islamic world. The city's ancient roots reach back to the Late Bronze Age, when the surrounding region fell within the sphere of the Hittite Empire. Under Roman rule, it was refounded as Sebasteia (the Greek form of "Augustus") and became an important garrison town on the frontier with Armenia. The city gained Christian fame as the site of the martyrdom of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste — Roman soldiers who died for their faith on a frozen lake in 320 CE — an event that became one of the most widely celebrated in the Eastern Christian calendar. It was under the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum that Sivas achieved its architectural zenith. In the 13th century, the city became one of the twin capitals of the Seljuk state alongside Konya, and its rulers and patrons commissioned some of the most extraordinary buildings in all of Islamic architecture. The Gök Medrese (Blue Madrasa, 1271), the Çifte Minareli Medrese (Twin Minaret Madrasa, 1271), and the Buruciye Medresesi (1271) together form an ensemble of stone-carved architectural masterpieces whose portal decoration represents the pinnacle of Seljuk artistic achievement. The Seljuk buildings of Sivas are distinguished by their portal facades, which feature deeply carved geometric, floral, and calligraphic decoration of extraordinary complexity and refinement. The twin minarets of the Çifte Minareli Medrese, decorated with glazed brick and tile in azure blue, stand as iconic symbols of Seljuk Anatolia. The nearby Gök Medrese features a portal of such intricate stone carving that it has been called the finest single work of Seljuk decorative art. The Divriği road from Sivas passes through some of Anatolia's most dramatic landscapes, connecting to the equally spectacular Divriği Great Mosque and Hospital — together, these Seljuk monuments form an unparalleled chain of medieval architectural achievement in the Anatolian highlands.
