Galata Mevlevi Lodge

At the Tünel end of İstiklal Street, a historic gateway marks the start of Galip Dede Street. Behind it, among trees on the Galata ridge, stands a timber sema hall. This is the oldest Mevlevi lodge in Istanbul and one of the most significant Ottoman buildings in Beyoğlu. In Ottoman times it was called the Galata, Kulekapısı or Galip Dede lodge.

History

The lodge was founded in 1491 on the home farm of İskender Pasha, a governor-general under Bayezid II, and its first sheikh was Mehmed Sema-i Çelebi. The earthquake of 1509, remembered as the Little Doomsday, probably harmed the buildings. A repair inscription of 1651 says the kitchen steward İsmail Efendi restored the lodge. After the Tophane fire of 1765 damaged it, Mustafa III ordered it rebuilt under the supervision of Yenişehirli Osman Efendi.

The poet Sheikh Galib became head of the lodge in 1791, and during his time, as a friend of Selim III, the buildings were renewed. Works of 1851-1859 under Sultan Abdülmecid gave the lodge its final form; the repair inscription at the sema hall entrance bears the date 1853. When the dervish lodges closed in 1925 the building served for a while as a primary school. After works in 1967-1975 it opened in 1975 as the Divan Literature Museum, and a renewal in 2008-2011 turned it into today's Galata Mevlevi Lodge Museum.

Architecture and displays

The sema hall has an octagonal plan and is counted among fine examples of the 18th-century Baroque style. On the ground floor lies the sema floor of walnut, with the mihrab and pulpit at the back and, opposite them, a calligraphic panel reading Ya Hazret-i Mevlana by Yesarizade Mustafa İzzet in front of the musicians' loge. The dervish rooms below hold items of Sufism and the order, the history of the lodge and sections on the fine arts. In the upper galleries, screened by wooden lattices, are calligraphy panels, hilye-i şerif sheets (panels describing the Prophet's qualities), marbling and musical instruments, alongside the collected poems of divan poets and manuscripts by Sheikh Galib, İsmail Ankaravi, the dedes Esrar and Fasih, and the poet Leylâ Hanım.

The complex also has the Main Gate, the Tomb of Sheikh Galip, the Tomb of Halet Efendi, the Sebilküttap group of fountain, timekeeper's room and library, and a graveyard called Hamuşan. Sheikh Galip's tomb is a lead-roofed rectangular building from 1819 where İsmail Ankaravi (d. 1731) and Galip Dede (d. 1799) lie. The Tomb of Halet Efendi dates from 1872.

Visiting

Check the official page for current visiting details, as sections may change during works. The MüzeKart is valid for Turkish citizens. The Galata Tower and İstiklal Street are a few minutes' walk away.