Kirşehir

Kırşehir lies on the central Anatolian plateau, between the Kızılırmak and the volcanic country of Cappadocia. A centre of Turkish religious and scholarly life, it is associated with Ahi Evran, a leader of the Ahi brotherhood of craftsmen. Its stone monuments include the Cacabey madrasa, built by the local governor in 1272–1273 under the Seljuks.

The Ahi brotherhood joined craft organisation with religious and ethical teaching, and Kırşehir became an important place in the brotherhood’s enduring traditions. A complex dedicated to Ahi Evran was established around a lodge and his tomb; a new mosque and mausoleum were built there in 1482. Alongside the older madrasa, the complex gave enduring architectural form to the town's scholarly and devotional life under successive Anatolian rulers.