Melan-Tekke

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The Melan-Tekke ( Albanian  Teqeja e Melanit ) is a Tekke ( dervish monastery ) and a famous pilgrimage site of the Sufi order of the Bektaschi from the year 1800 near Libohova in southern Albania . The Tekkel lies above the Dropull plain south of the town of Gjirokastra on a hill on the eastern side of the valley near the small village of Vllaho-Goranxia .

Today's Tekke was built around 1800 under Baba Aliu von der Tekke von Zall , replacing an older Tekke. According to other sources, however, the building dates from 1870. Baba Alius' tomb ( Türbe ) is located next to the main building. The area, which is richly overgrown with cypress trees, also includes a well from Ottoman times and an aqueduct that supplied it with water. The two-story main building is comparatively large and consists of the prayer hall and adjoining rooms. It is used by the followers of the Shiite Bektashi order to pray, study, meditate and listen to sermons of the Babas . On the holidays of the Bektashi, believers not only gather for religious ceremonies, but also hold social gatherings and picnics in nature on the Tekke grounds.

The hill was home to an Epirotic or Illyrian fortress over 2000 years ago . Material from an ancient fortification wall was later used to build the Tekke. Ceramic remains from the 4th century BC have also been found. The old walls were renewed in late antiquity around the 5th or 6th century AD. The remains of a small church date from the Middle Ages. Before the first Tekke was built, a Christian monastery is said to have been here.

Today the Tekke is secluded in the hills on the eastern slope of the valley. In the past, however, the caravan route through the Drino Valley ran through here. The English Baron John Cam Hobhouse and Lord Byron were on this journey during their journey from Ioannina to Tepelena , where they met Ali Pascha Tepelena . During World War I  and World War II , the Tekke was badly damaged by Greek troops.

In 1963 the area was declared a national cultural asset. The Melan-Tekke was closed and partially destroyed in the course of the atheism campaign under dictator Enver Hoxha at the end of the 1960s during the times of the Socialist People's Republic of Albania . The military used the facility at times. After the ban on religion was lifted in 1990, the Tekke was rebuilt by believers from Nepravishta, Libohova and Lazarat . In 1994 the Tekke was reopened. The work lasted until 2002. The Tekke is subject to the grandfatherhood ( Gjyshata ) Gjirokastra. Today the Melan-Tekke is permanently inhabited by a dervish.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Felicity Booth, Elenita Roshi (ed.): Gjirokastra - the essential guide . Gjirokastra Conservation and Development Organization, Tirana / Norwich 2009, ISBN 978-99956-747-0-0 , pp. 71 f . ( Article online (in excerpts) ).
  2. ↑ a b c d Nuri Çuni: Teqeja e Melanit - perla bektashiane. In: Gazeta Republika. January 25, 2012, archived from the original on December 4, 2014 ; Retrieved November 30, 2014 (Albanian).
  3. ↑ a b Gillian Gloyer: Albania . 4th edition. Bradt Travel Guides, Bucks 2012, ISBN 978-1-84162-387-0 , pp. 236 f .
  4. ↑ Monumentet kulturore dhe historike - Rrethi Gjirokastër. In: Vasil S. Tole. Retrieved November 30, 2014 (Albanian).

Coordinates: 39 ° 59 ′ 17 ″  N , 20 ° 16 ′ 42 ″  E