Art historian Doğan Kuban argues that this may account for why a group of exceptional artists, necessary for the construction of the mosque and hospital, would have been present in the city around this time.

[2] The north portal of the mosque gives the date of 626 AH (1228-9) and the name of its patron as Ahmadshāh ibn Sulaymān, who is one of the rulers of the Divriği branch of the Mengujekids.

[5] The inscription on the portal of the hospital describes the building as a dār al-shifā' ("house of healing") and ascribes its foundation to Tūrān Malik bint Fakhr al-Dīn Bahramshāh.

Fakhr al-Dīn Bahramshāh is the best-known Mengujekid ruler whose reign, in Erzincan, lasted for nearly sixty years until his death in 1225.

Although it is often assumed that Ahmadshāh and Tūrān Malik were married, there is no evidence, inscriptional or otherwise, to prove a matrimonial relationship between these two members of the extended Mengujekid royal family.

[5] The name of the chief architect is inscribed in the interior of both the mosque and the hospital and has been read as Khurramshāh ibn Mughīth al-Khilātī.

[2] The main entrance to the mosque is on the northern side and is marked by a tall portal which is celebrated for the quality and density of its high-relief stone carving.

Some carved wooden panels said to belong to the royal platform are today on view in the museum of the Directorate of Pious Endowments in Ankara.