Mevlevi Tekke Museum is a tekke in Nicosia, Cyprus, currently in North Nicosia. It has historically been used by the Mevlevi Order and now serves as a museum. It is one of the most important historical and religious buildings on the island. [1] It is located next to the Kyrenia Gate, on Girne Avenue, in the İbrahimpaşa quarter. [2]
It is traditionally held that the building was built in the early 17th century, on a piece of land donated by a landlady called Emine Hatun. [3] This Emine Hatun hailed from the village of Kyra, where she owned a farm. It is rumoured by the locals that she is buried in a grave without any inscriptions, located to the northeast of the tomb in the tekke. According to another view, the tekke is located on land donated by Arab Ahmed Pasha and Haydar Paşazade Fatma Hanım. [4] According to the Evkaf Administration, the tekke was initially built in 1593 by Arab Ahmed Pasha on a plot of land owned by him and then enlarged into a complex using land donated by Emine Hatun. [5]
According to documents from Ottoman archives from 1593, a mevlevi tekke named after Arab Ahmed Pasha, built on a plot of land donated by him, was built near Kyrenia Gate. This tekke was ruined by 1607 and Ferhad Pasha built a mevlevi tekke on its foundations and named it after him in 1607. The present-day tekke is a continuation of this one. A document from 1857 mentions the addition of an administrative building to the tekke, which oversaw the needs of the poor at the time. [4] The sheikh of the tekke was under the jurisdiction of the central administration in Konya, while Kutup Osman Tekke in Famagusta, Mehmet Bey Ebubekir Tekke and Mehmet Buba Tekke in Paphos and Piri Osman Tekke in Limassol were amongst the ones responding to Nicosia. [1] As of 1873, there were 36 members of the tekke and rituals were conducted on Sundays. [4]
When tekkes in Turkey were closed as a part of Atatürk's Reforms in 1925, some in the Turkish Cypriot community demanded the closure of the tekke. However, the British disregarded this, and as the centre of the Mevlevi Order had moved from Konya to Aleppo, it decided to appoint Syrian sheikhs. [6] The first such sheikh was Muhammed Selim Dede from Damascus, appointed on 6 December 1933 and paid £48 by the colonial government, in the place of Mehmed Celâleddin Efendi, who had died in 1931. Selim Dede would hold this position until his death on 9 December 1953 and was replaced by Hafız Şefik Efendi. However, as those who were appointed after Selim Dede were either workers or civil servants who could not serve as sheikh continually, the tekke ceased operation in 1954, with the Mevlevi Order in Cyprus officially ceasing to exist on 15 April 1956, with the handover of Evkaf Administration to the Turkish Cypriot community. [4] [1] [5]
The following incomplete list of sheikhs of the tekke was compiled by archaeologist Tuncer Bağışkan, according to the mentions in Ottoman archives: [4]
The building is an important example of Ottoman architecture in the urban fabric of Nicosia. [6] The current surviving buildings are the semahane, used for the whirling rituals of sama, the tomb, and a few rooms to the east of the semahane, along with a small backyard. The initial tekke contained rooms for dervishes, guestrooms, a kitchen, a well dated to the Venetian times and a large garden with fruit trees, but these buildings were ruinous by the 1950s and demolished to make room for Vakıflar Pasajı, a business centre. The garden was also mostly taken up by this new building. [1] [6]
The Eyalet of Cyprus was an eyalet (province) of the Ottoman Empire made up of the island of Cyprus, which was annexed into the Empire in 1571. The Ottomans changed the way they administered Cyprus multiple times. It was a sanjak (sub-province) of the Eyalet of the Archipelago from 1670 to 1703, and again from 1784 onwards; a fief of the Grand Vizier ; and again an eyalet for the short period from 1745 to 1748.
Selimiye Mosque, historically known as Cathedral of Saint Sophia or Ayasofya Mosque, is a former Christian cathedral converted into a mosque, located in North Nicosia. It has historically been the main mosque of the city. The Selimiye Mosque is housed in the largest and oldest surviving Gothic church in Cyprus possibly constructed on the site of an earlier Byzantine church.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Ottoman Empire:
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The Kyrenia Gate, is a gate in the Nicosia walls, in North Nicosia, Northern Cyprus. It was the gate which was used for transport to the northern areas, especially Kyrenia.
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Kadı Menteş Mansion is a mansion in the Selimiye quarter of North Nicosia. It is located at the intersection of the Selimiye Square and the İdadi Street, and is currently as the headquarters of the Turkish Cypriot Union of Municipalities.
Yahya Efendi or Molla Shaykhzadeh ul Yahya, Ottoman Islamic scholar, sufi sheikh, and poet buried in Beshiktash, Istanbul.
Bedesten or Bedestan is a historical building in the Selimiye quarter of North Nicosia, located directly beside the Selimiye Mosque. The structure has a long and complicated history spanning more than one thousand years. Originally built as a church in about the sixth century, and expanded and rebuilt between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, it was converted to a bedesten, a type of covered market, during the period of Ottoman rule. It is currently used as a cultural centre.
Dervish Pasha Mansion is a historical mansion and ethnographic museum in the Arab Ahmet quarter of Nicosia, currently located in North Nicosia. It lies on the Beliğ Paşa Street and has two floors. It is considered to be one of the finest examples of Ottoman architecture in Cyprus.
Akbaba, is a neighborhood in Beykoz district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. It is home to the türbe of Akbaba Sultan, a Bektashi sufi baba who participated in the Conquest of Constantinople and was a mentor of Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror. Following the Conquest, he moved to this valley rich with spring waters and established a tekke with his dervish murids. The tekke was last revived by the Naqshbandi Shaykh Abdulhakim Efendi of Bukhara between 1876-1889.
Bayraktar Mosque is a mosque in Nicosia, Cyprus, currently placed in the southern sector of the city administered by the Republic of Cyprus.
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The Tomb of Kurt Baba is a türbe in North Nicosia. Up until recent times, it was also known as the "Tomb of Kutup Baba" or "Üçler Tomb", but the corruption of the name "Kutup Baba" as "Kurt Baba" stuck as the common name. It is situated in the intersection point of Asmaaltı Street and Kurt Baba Street, and in the corner of Asmaaltı Square.
Laleli Mosque is a mosque in the Abdi Çavuş quarter of the walled city of Nicosia, currently located in North Nicosia. It is located on Ali Ruhi Street. Its name, meaning "the Mosque with Tulips", is thought to be derived from the tulip motifs adorning its original minaret. Originally a small medieval chapel, it was enlarged and converted to a mosque in the 19th century.
Mehmet Suphi Ezgi was an Ottoman-born Turkish military physician who specialized in neurology, and a musician, musicologist and composer. He is best known for his studies of Ottoman classical music.
List of historical tekkes, zawiyas, and dergahs in Istanbul, Turkey:
The İttik Dede's Turbeh, also known as Yitik Dede's Turbeh or İsmail Çavuş's Turbeh, is an Ottoman mausoleum located in the northern part of Nicosia in Northern Nicosia. It is situated in the Selimiye neighborhood, on the south side of the Selimiye Square.