Monuments of the city · Tomb

Taceddin Altunbaş Kümbet

Dere neighbourhood, Arasta Street, at the end of the Coppersmiths' Bazaar. You might walk past without noticing — only one of its façades is still standing.

No inscription Ownership disputed Coppersmiths' Bazaar

This kümbet (tomb tower) has no building inscription. Nor does it have its original cenotaph.^1, 2 The plaque on it says that Sultan Taceddin Altunbaş is buried here — but researchers are not sure of this.^1, 2

This page shows how a building's identity is debated. In the end there is no definite answer; there are four different possibilities.

📜 What do the documents say?

Today the kümbet is in this state: only its north-facing façade has survived. The other parts have been walled in, and the area where the grave lies has been closed off with PVC (uPVC) panels and turned into a room.^1, 3

But the inside is quite different. Unlike the ruined look outside, the inside of the tomb is clean and well kept: the cenotaph is surrounded by a wooden fence, and the earth of the grave can be seen directly.^1, 3 Şen records a bookcase in the room, plenty of headscarves and prayer rugs, carpets on the floor, even an air conditioner.¹

Working from the surviving part, Koşan states that the building consisted of an octagonal body resting on a square base (a burial crypt), and that with its smooth facing stones, rounded corner mouldings and chain (zencirek) motifs it bears the features of 13th-century Seljuk tomb architecture.² The Taceddin Madrasa adjoining the kümbet was partly uncovered in a research excavation in 1989.²

So who was Taceddin Altunbaş?

According to Koşan, he was the son of Gıyaseddin Mesud II, the last Anatolian Seljuk sultan. From an endowment deed of the sultan it is understood that Altunbaş ruled in and around Amasya as lord of Simre.² Among the people he is also known as “Küçük Sultan Gazi” (the Little Sultan Gazi).¹

According to Abdizade, when Timurtaş Bey came to Anatolia in 718 (1318), massacres were carried out against the Seljuk family; some princes saved their lives by fleeing to the mountains and rugged places. Taceddin Altunbaş was one of those who survived in this way. It is also known that Sultan Rükneddin Kılıçarslan, ruler of Sivas, was his son, and that he was under the protection of Şadgeldi Paşa.¹

And this is where the problem begins. Taceddin Altunbaş's grave is not in Amasya. Koşan writes that when the sultan died in 1356-57 he was buried in the village of Umurbey in Havza, attached to Amasya.² The Evliya Atlası Samsun, quoted by Şen, gives the date 756 (1355) and says that his grave is in the cemetery of the village of Şeyh Safi in Havza.¹ Both point to the same district: Havza. The building in Amasya, then, is not his grave — most probably it is a memorial (makam).^1, 2

Four different answers

Researchers do not agree on when the kümbet was built or to whom it belongs:

The information panel inside the tomb

It is for Taceddin Altunbaş

The panel says that Sultan Taceddin Altunbaş is buried in the tomb; although the date of construction is not certain, it is thought likely to have been built in the 1200s.¹

The 1200s

Doğanbaş — as quoted by Şen

Related to the Cumudar Kümbet

The building bears great similarities to the Cumudar Kümbet, built in the second quarter of the 13th century.¹

13th c., 2nd quarter

Orhan Cezmi Tuncer, 1991

Really a century later

Citing as evidence an endowment deed of Taceddin Altunbaş dated 1355, he dates the kümbet to the third quarter of the 14th century, most probably between 1355 and 1360. According to Tuncer, since the place of Altunbaş's grave is not known, this may be a memorial built in his name after his death.¹

1355–1360

Doğan Koşan, 2023 — the most recent study

Perhaps someone else entirely

The architectural features point to 13th-century Seljuk tomb architecture, and the building is very similar in materials, decoration and plan to the Cumudar Tomb (1242), 90 metres away — those who built the two may have been the same people, or relatives. Since the site of the Gümüşlüzade Tomb is not known today, and this building is 150 metres from the Gümüşlüzade Mosque, there is also a possibility that the kümbet belongs to Mahmut Çelebi.²

13th c. · identity open

Şen's conclusion: whom the kümbet in central Amasya really belongs to — the one thought to be Taceddin Altunbaş's, and entered as such in the records of the Amasya Museum — is not clear; because it has neither a building inscription nor its original cenotaph, many questions remain. The existing information that the building belongs to Taceddin Altunbaş rests on Abdizade's work.¹

🗣️ What do the people say?

While researchers debate who lies here, visitors have had no hesitation at all. Şen records that as you come in through the door, the whole surface of the uPVC enclosure is covered with hundreds of written prayers.¹ What is written is usually this:

To find a good job
To get a good score in exams
To find a good match and marry
To have a baby

A curious detail: Şen observed that although the person buried here is not the Tezveren saint (‘the swift giver’), some prayers are written “by the grace of Tezveren” or “for the sake of Tezveren”. In other prayers God is asked directly, with no mention at all of the person lying there.¹

This should be read without condescension. Here is a building whose identity the documents have not been able to settle — yet it is where people write down their weightiest wishes: work, exams, marriage and children. Even when it is not known whom a building was built for, it lives on through whom it is used for. This page gives both kinds of information, separately: what the documents know, and what people do.

While you are there, look for

The north façade. It is the only original face still standing; it is the only place where you can see the fine dressed-stone work.^1, 2
The corner mouldings and the chain motif. These are the details Koşan calls 13th century.²
The earth of the grave. Inside the wooden fence, directly visible — there is no original cenotaph.^1, 2, 3
The writing on the uPVC panels. Hundreds of handwritten prayers; none of them is an inscription, and all of them are documents.¹
And your surroundings. The Cumudar Kümbet is 90 metres away, the Gümüşlüzade Mosque 150 metres.² The other pieces of the puzzle are there.

Key facts

Date: Disputed — 13th century^1, 2 or 1355–1360¹
Belonging to: According to the plaque, Sultan Taceddin Altunbaş; not certain, and Mahmut Çelebi is also possible^1, 2
Taceddin Altunbaş: Son of Gıyaseddin Mesud II, the last Anatolian Seljuk sultan; lord of Simre²
His actual grave: Havza — the village of Umurbey² or of Şeyh Safi¹
Inscription: None^1, 2
Original cenotaph: None^1, 2
Plan: Octagonal body on a square base (burial crypt)²
Present state: Only the north façade stands; the grave area has been closed off with PVC and turned into a room^1, 3
Its madrasa: Partly uncovered in a research excavation in 1989²
Location: 40.650992, 35.8330702 — verified from an external source
In the book: Kültürel Miras Boyutuyla Amasya, p. 52

📍 Open on the map

Sources

Ayşegül Şen, Amasya Şehir Merkezindeki Dinî Ziyaret Yerleri (Yüksek Lisans Tezi, 2019), 55-57. — “3.8. Taceddin Altunbaş Kümbeti”: the building's present state and interior, the prayers written on the uPVC panels and the “Tezveren” observation; the information panel inside the tomb, Doğanbaş's comparison with the Cumudar Kümbet, Orhan Cezmi Tuncer's dating based on the 1355 endowment deed and his memorial interpretation, Abdizade's account of Timurtaş Bey, and the date 756 (1355) and the record of the village of Şeyh Safi in Havza given by Evliya Atlası Samsun.
Doğan Koşan, “Son Anadolu Selçuklu Meliki Taceddin Altunbaş'ın Amasya'daki Medresesi ve Türbesi”, Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 22/3 (2023), 802. — The absence of an original inscription and cenotaph; Taceddin Altunbaş as son of Gıyaseddin Mesud II and lord of Simre; his death in 1356-57 and his grave in the village of Umurbey in Havza; the octagonal body on a square base and its 13th-century Seljuk features; the similarity to the Cumudar Tomb (1242); the 1989 excavation; and the Mahmut Çelebi possibility.
Kültürel Miras Boyutuyla Amasya (Amasya: Amasya Üniversitesi, BAP Projesi SEB-BAP25-0233, 2026), 52.

This page has no photograph. The book has no picture of this kümbet. A current photograph will be added once it has been taken.