Mevlana Museum

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Mevlânâ Museum, Konya
Ritual dance ( sema ) of the Mevlevi dervishes

Today's Mevlana Museum ( Turkish Mevlânâ Müzesi ) is the mausoleum of Jalāl ad-Dīn ar-Rūmī with the attached lodge of the Mevlevi - dervish brotherhood , Turkish Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi Türbesi ve Dergahi , in Konya , Turkey , the former capital of the Sultanate of Rum -Seljuks .

Rūmī (1207–1273) was a Persian Sufi mystic, scholar, and important Persian-speaking poet . The Mevlevi Dervish Brotherhood founded by him is named after his nickname ( Arabic مولانا, DMG Maulānā , Turkish Mevlânā 'our Lord / Master' ). Its mausoleum is one of the landmarks of Konya and has served as an Islamic pilgrimage site to this day. Over the centuries it has been rebuilt and expanded again and again. Important sultans of the Ottoman Empire added buildings, renovated existing parts of the building or donated valuable items for interior decoration.

According to Law No. 677 of the Turkish government under the state founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk , the building was secularized and converted into a museum. This was opened on March 2, 1927 as the "Konya Museum of Ancient Art" (Konya Âsâr-ı Âtîka Müzesi) and in 1954 renamed the "Mevlana Museum". In the middle of the 20th century, the historic district around the mausoleum was torn down and replaced by a park that also includes the neighboring Ottoman Selimiye Mosque (1566). Extensive restoration work took place between 1983 and 1987.

Building history

Left picture: Seljuk Green Dome (yeşil kubbe) Right picture: Inner shell of the dome Left picture: Seljuk Green Dome (yeşil kubbe) Right picture: Inner shell of the dome
Left picture : Seljuk Green Dome ( yeşil kubbe )
Right picture : Inner shell of the dome

Originally there was a rose garden on the site of the current structure east of the city walls of Konya. In 1228 the Seljuk Sultan Kai Kobad I gave the garden to Rūmī's father Baha al-Din Veled. The theologian had fled the Mongols from his hometown of Balch to Konya and was buried in this garden in 1231.

Rūmī's successor Hüsamettin Çelebi built the mausoleum ( Kubbe-i Hadra ) over the grave of his master after Rūmī's death on December 17, 1273 . This building had a burial chamber with a cylindrical muqarnas dome on four pillars and an iwan . The original Seljuk building by the architect Badr al-Din of Tabriz ( Turkish Behrettin Tebrizli ) was completed in 1274. The artist Selimoğlu Abdülvahit (Abd-al Waḥīd) was responsible for the interior decoration and the carvings of the catafalke Rumis and his father. Around 1397, the Karamanid emir ʿAla al-Din ʿAli Bey added the cylindrical drum, which is still present today, decorated with blue-green glazed tiles, the 25 m high "green dome" on the outside. The building got its present form - after a building inscription in Sülüs - calligraphy on the south wall of the Türbe - under Sultan Bayezid II (r. 1481-1512). The small mosque adjoining the Türbe in the north and the hall for the ritual dance ( semahane ) are dated to the reign of Sultan Suleyman I. Until 1854 changes and extensions took place again and again, so that today only the Green Dome is preserved in its original Seljuk state.

Architecture and interior design

The domed yokes of the self-contained building ensemble include the mausoleum, the semahane and the mosque, the rooms of which are only separated by arcades with iron bars and wooden walls. In the four bay portico ( son cemaat yeri ) is the main portal ( dervişan kapısı ) with a muqarnas niche. A building inscription from 1889 reminds of restoration work. It leads into a marble-paved courtyard. In the southern yoke of the vestibule is the base of the minaret , which can be entered from the inner courtyard. A spiral staircase inside the minaret leads to the balcony (şerefe) .

Mescite

The small mosque (mescit) has a single pendent dome that rests on four high arches. In the qibla wall , the double doors of the grave gate ( Türbe kapısı ) lead into the actual mausoleum. Its two portals are decorated with typical Seljuk motifs and a Persian text by Abdurrahman Cami and are dated to 1492. A twin arch leads east from the mosque into the semahane .

Semahane

Like the mosque, the dance hall has a 10 m wide dome; two arches, widened and decorated during the reign of Abdülhamid II, lead further into the grave shrine. The arcades have two- story galleries on their north and east sides and a small cell for the musicians (mutrib hücresi) . The white plastered walls of the mosque and the semahane are decorated with simple inscriptions from 1887, which are signed by Mehmed Mahbub from Konya. A series of casement windows with arched windows above allow daylight into the two halls; additional windows are embedded in the coupling drums.

Grave shrine

Sarcophagus Rumis; in the background two of the “elephant legs” pillars of the green dome
Sarcophagi of the "brave of Khorasan "

The grave gate first leads into the small “recitation chamber(tilavet odası) on the east wall of the grave shrine, south of the main portal. The chamber is decorated with Ottoman calligraphy in Sülüs , Naschī , and Taliq styles and was used for recitation of the Koran . A door clad in silver opens from the recitation chamber into the actual mausoleum. An inscription on the door from 1599 names Hasan Pascha, the son of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha , as the founder . This leads to the visitor corridor ( Dahil-i Ussak , Kademat-i Pir , or Huzur-i Pir ). The domed yokes of the mausoleum are enclosed by vaults with five yokes each in the north and east, in which 56 sarcophagi stand on raised platforms under secondary domes ( kubba ul-Aktab , the "domes of the common"). The second vaulted yoke in the east contains the cenotaphs of Rūmī and his son Sultan Veled. The wooden cenotaph Rūmīs from the 13th century, decorated with masterful wood carvings in the Seljuk style, stands under the green dome. The inner shell of the dome is painted with stars. It rests on four massive pillars, which are referred to as "elephant legs" based on the Masnawī poem of Rūm voms about the "elephant in the dark house".

A blanket of black brocade applied to leather with gold embroidered Koran verses covers it. Like all the other sarcophagus ceilings in the mausoleum, this one is also a gift from Sultan Abdülhamid II in 1894. The actual tombs are below the room. A silver cage (Gümüs Kafes) encloses the cenotaphs under the green dome. It was made by Ilyas in 1579. Steps covered with silver plates lead down in front of the silver cage into the crypt. The vaulted yoke in front of Rūmī's tomb has a finely worked muqarnas vault, above which a lantern rises. The white plastered walls are decorated with simple Koran inscriptions. On the left in the mausoleum there are two rows of two sarcophagi each of the "brave from Khorasan" ( Horasan erleri ) who had accompanied Rūmī and his family from Balkh . Many sarcophagi are adorned with the turban-wrapped high felt hats ( sikke ) of the dervishes.

Dervish cells and kitchen

The 18 domed living cells of the dervishes are lined up in the north and west around the inner courtyard of the Tekke . They were in 1584 under Murad III. rebuilt and renovated in the 19th century. There are twelve cells in the west and six in the north with chimneys. They can be entered from the inner courtyard. Some partition walls were broken out in the 20th century, the arcades were glazed towards the inner courtyard to create space for the exhibition. In the southwest corner of the courtyard is the dervish kitchen ( matbah ), separated from the living cells by a hall of honor (maidan-i şerif) .

Courtyard, graves and cemeteries

Dervish graves

The area enclosed by the dervish cells and the outer wall of the courtyard can be entered through three portals: the main portal or Derwischtor (dervişan kapısı) between the living cells in the East, the gateway to the Silent ( hamuşan kapısı ) in the south, which is the same cemetery (hamuşan mezarliği) leads , and the gate of the noble ones ( çelebiler kapısı ) to the living quarters of the superiors of the brotherhood. Originally there were also graves in the inner courtyard, which is why this part of the building was known as the "Garden of Souls" (Hadikat-ül Ervah) . However, the tombstones have been removed and are now in different places in the courtyard. The superiors of the order were buried in a cemetery to the east of the mausoleum, their female relatives in the women's cemetery (valideler mezarliği) north of the mosque.

In and around the inner courtyard there are five doors of tall Ottoman people; four of them are domed octagonal buildings. The graves of Fatma Hatun (1585) and Sinan Paşa (1574) are located south of Hamuşan mezarliği, on which the grave of Hasan Paşas (1573) and the simple canopy grave of Mehmed Bey (1539) are located. Next to Hasan Paşa's grave, adjacent to the qibla wall of the grave shrine, is the audience hall of the superiors of the order (mevlevi han) , in which a window opens to the mausoleum. The octagonal doorway of the Hürrem Paşa (1527) is on the west side of the inner courtyard by the kitchen. Hürrem Paşa, Hasan Paşa and Sinan Paşa were each governors of Karaman Province , Fatma Hatun was the daughter of Governor Murad Paşa.

In the middle of the courtyard are two running fountains (selsebil) and a Şadırvan (basin for ritual washing), which was built under Selim I (r. 1512–1520) and renovated in 1595 and 1868. The canopy of the Şadirvan was demolished in 1929 and rebuilt from 1988 to 1990 according to the original.

exhibition

Dīwān-e Kabīr , Mevlānā Museum, Konya

In the hall for the ritual dance ( sema ) of the dervishes, the semahane , the musical instruments and dervish clothes used for this are exhibited today. The “recitation chamber” houses a collection of Ottoman calligraphy . In the visitor corridor of the mausoleum there is an edition of Rūmī's collection of poems Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi from 1366 and two collections of Masnawī poems from 1278 and 1371. The mosque now houses a collection of Koran manuscripts and antique prayer rugs. After the Istanbul museums and the Victoria and Albert Museum , the Mevlānā Museum has one of the richest collections of Turkish textiles. Since 1954 the Mevlevi dervishes have been allowed to perform their dances for tourists again. The Rūmī festival traditionally takes place in December.

Web links

Commons : Mevlânâ Museum  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Act No. 677 of November 30, 1925 on the prohibition and closure of the orders of dervishes, monasteries and mausoleums, on the prohibition of the profession of mausoleums guardian and the management and award of certain titles, RG No. 243 of December 13, 1925.
  2. a b Turkinfo website ( memento of the original from October 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 1, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.turkinfo.at
  3. a b c d e f g h i j Mausoleum and dervish lodge of Mevlânâ Celaleddin Rūmī on Archnet.org , accessed on November 1, 2016.
  4. a b Oktay Aslanapa : Turkish art and architecture . Faber & Faber, London 1971, ISBN 0-571-08781-7 , pp. 179 .
  5. Rūmĩ, EH Whinfield (ed.): Masnavi i Ma'navi: Teachings of Rumi. The Spiritual Couplets of Maulána Jalálu-'d-dín Muhammad i Rúmí. Book III, Story 5: The Elephant in the Dark House . 1887, p. 181 ( omphaloskepsis.com [PDF; 1.1 MB ; accessed on November 1, 2016]). Masnavi i Ma'navi: Teachings of Rumi. The Spiritual Couplets of Maulána Jalálu-'d-dín Muhammad i Rúmí. Book III, Story 5: The Elephant in the Dark House ( Memento of the original from November 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.omphaloskepsis.com
  6. Selsebil also refers to a nectar spring in heavenly paradise. Cf. Georg Friedrich Daumer : Hafis. A collection of Persian poems. Along with poetic additions from different peoples and countries. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1846, p. 316.
  7. Oktay Aslanapa : Turkish art and architecture . Faber & Faber, London 1971, ISBN 0-571-08781-7 , pp. 203 .