The department of History of Turkish-Islamic Arts was founded in order to broaden the cultural and aesthetic aspects of the Faculty of Divinity’s curriculum and thereby enrich its regular religious education. The department organizes academic activities relating to the arts, including international conferences and publications. It places a special emphasis on Islamic architecture produced during the various periods of Islamic history: Umayyad, Abbasid, Karakhanid, Ghaznavid, Seljuq, Ottoman, etc. In addition, it focuses on other types of applied arts and the philosophy and aesthetic world-view behind these arts. The department encourages its graduate students to take courses from other departments and faculties so that they can receive as broad an education as possible.