The Halilürrahman Medrese stands on the Balıklıgöl plateau, along the western edge of the Halilürrahman lake. It was built in 1775 and, according to the available sources, repaired in 1871 by Derviş Ali Pasha in the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz.
The building is regular cut stone on an L-shaped plan. It begins with a wide iwan adjoining the shrine section of the Halilürrahman Mosque, turns north at the corner to run along the western shore of the lake, and ends at the far corner in a domed maksura projecting into the water. The students' cells ranged along that shore are vaulted and of differing sizes, and the arcades in front of them have two tiers of Bursa arches. The main spring that feeds Balıklıgöl is held to lie beneath this medrese.
Getting there
- Access
- Reached by Şanlıurfa's city transport.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Şanlıurfa as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 5.7 °C in January to 32.1 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in April, May and October; rainfall is heaviest in January (85 mm) and lightest in July (2 mm). Long-term means for 1929-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
