Hasan Padishah Kümbet - Ahlat (Bitlis Province, Turkey) - Mausoleums on Waymarking.com

The depicted medieval Seljuq mausolem, called Hasan Padishah Kümbet (Tomb of Padishah Hasan), you can find in a small town Ahlat in Bitlis Province of Turkey. The Hasan Padishah Kümbet is the second largest Seljuk mausoleum in historic regional center, town Ahlat.

Hasan Padishah Kümbet, built in 1275 by Mahmud Hasan Ali Aka, is a virtual mirror image of the Usta Sagirt Kümbet, its dodecagonal drum sporting blind arcades.

Kümbet is the name given to Seljuq mausoleums. Kümbets are an important part of Seljuq architecture. In Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran where the Turks set up states and ruled for centuries, there are a number of examples of such mausoleums. Particularly fashionable in the 13th century. These monuments, referred to in Turkish as Kümbet, are a continuation of the Turkish burial customs of Central Asia. These structures are either polygonal or cylindrical in shape arid are covered with a dome. The main body of the monument rests on a cubic base, the corners of which are bevelled. In the examples built before the 16th century the dome is covered with a conical or pyramidal spire. Most of these monuments are two storied. Concealed inside the base, half of which is below ground level, is a crypt; the latter is covered by a vault and its floor is earth. The deceased was buried in the earth. The crypt had small loop-hole windows. Most Kümbet in Turkey are found in the provinces of Kayseri, Erzurum, Konya, and Bitlis.

[excerpted from wiki]