Guide
The complex stands in the Hepkebirler quarter of central Kastamonu, built in 1506 by Nasrullah Kadı, and consists of a mosque, medreses, an ablution fountain and a tomb.
The mosque was enlarged and repaired in 1746 by Reis'ül Küttap Hacı Mustafa Efendi, who added a library and a medrese at the same time. It is still open for prayer and serves as the central mosque of Kastamonu. During the War of Independence the sermon Mehmet Akif Ersoy gave here was distributed to the soldiers at the front to raise their spirits.
The Münire medrese was built by the same Hacı Mustafa Efendi in 1746 and repaired in 1809, 1814, 1843 and 1862. For many years it served as a students' hostel of the foundations administration; it was later assigned to the provincial special administration and began working as a crafts market, and although that assignment was cancelled in 2005 it carries on as one.
The Numaniye medrese was built by Cecelizade İbrahim Nurettin Efendi in 1688. Its name comes from Hoca Numan Efendi, a sheikh of the Kadiri or Nakşibendi order who taught there in 1834. It was repaired in 1802 by the teacher Ahmed Efendi, son of Çorukzade Ali, and has served since 8 December 1999 as the public kitchen of the regional foundations directorate.
The ablution fountain was built in 1752 by a benefactor named Bedii, who later had domes raised over it — the portal gives two dates for that work which do not agree with one another. Mustafa Bey of the İzbelioğulları repaired it in 1863, and Ömer Kethüda at a date not recorded. The lavatory built at the same time as the fountain no longer stands. Nasrullah Kadı himself was buried at the north end of the fountains; his tomb was demolished in the 1960s, and in 1995 the municipality set aside a symbolic area on the spot.
