Tarihi Taş Mektep

About Tarihi Taş Mektep

Tarihi Taş Mektep is a restaurant inside a historic stone school building in Beypazarı, on Alaaddin Sokak in the İstiklal quarter. The district municipality lists it in its official visitor guide, business directories show it as a municipality-run restaurant, and English Wikipedia's article on Beypazarı names it as one of the town's best-known eateries. The building served as a school for many years, until the 1970s, and was later used for Qur'an classes before being restored to its original form. It follows the lines of a traditional Turkish house: two storeys set on sloping ground and held up by retaining walls, a stone-built lower floor and a timber-framed upper floor, with the stone and timber sections divided by wooden bands. Inside, a wide central hall is flanked by the former classrooms, and a U-shaped wooden staircase links the floors. A projecting bay looks out on three sides from the south front, where the arched main door sits. The entrance is built entirely of stone, which is thought to be where the name Stone School comes from. The kitchen focuses on Beypazarı's regional dishes. Food guides list it among the places to try Beypazarı güveç and the town's kurusu rusks, and visitors have described a regional tasting menu with tarhana soup, vine-leaf sarma, meat pilaf and many-layered Beypazarı baklava. Photos in the municipal guide show tables with umbrellas set out on the paved square in front of the building.