The Nizamiyya Madrasa of Baghdad

The Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad was the first of the madrasas founded by the vizier Nizam al-Mulk al-Tusi, and the most famous. Construction began in 457 AH. ^{1 2}

Similar madrasas were set up after it in Nishapur, Isfahan, Herat, Basra, Mosul and Amid. ²

Teaching there was entrusted first to the Imam of the Two Sanctuaries, al-Juwayni, and then to Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi. It became one of the chief Sunni institutes, and later madrasas in Baghdad and elsewhere followed its model. ²

Caliphs prayed in it, and Nizam al-Mulk himself visited it to inspect its library. ²

See also the Bayhaqiyya madrasa, which al-Subki and al-Suyuti considered older than Nizam al-Mulk's.