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Kasımpaşa Mevlevihanesi

Kasımpaşa Mevlevihanesi is a Mevlevi lodge in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, founded between 1623 and 1631 by Sheikh Sırrı Abdi Dede, the third in the city after Galata and Yenikapı. It was closed in 1925 with every lodge in Turkey, destroyed by fire in 1979, rebuilt in its original form on its original plot, and reopened on 11 May 2024. It is run by the İnsan ve İrfan Foundation and holds the Sema every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 17:00.

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The rebuilt wooden-clad building of Kasımpaşa Mevlevihanesi with stone steps and its courtyard, Beyoğlu, Istanbul
Kasımpaşa Mevlevihanesi today, rebuilt on its original plot. The stone steps survived the 1979 fire.

Timeline

  1. 1623–1631 Founded by Sheikh Sırrı Abdi Dede, a dervish of the Galata lodge, on a garden plot he owned in Kasımpaşa. It was the third Mevlevi lodge in Istanbul, after Galata and Yenikapı. Evliya Çelebi records that it was built in the reign of Murad IV.
  2. 1631 Abdi Dede dies and is buried in the open tomb in the lodge garden.
  3. 1731–32 Repaired by one Hasan Ağa, to a survey drawn up by Kayserili Mehmed Ağa, chief architect of the Tulip Era.
  4. 1796 Rebuilt by Mihrişah Valide Sultan and her son Selim III, a Mevlevi devotee and a composer of Mevlevi music.
  5. 1834–35 The largest restoration, under Mahmud II, recorded in the poem over the courtyard gate. Grand admiral Tahir Pasha buys the neighbouring houses to enlarge the lodge.
  6. 1925 In December, Law No. 677 closes every dervish lodge in Turkey. The ceremony hall is given to a wrestling club, which holds a New Year's ball in it; part of the building becomes a school.
  7. 1945 Seyfeddin Dede, the last sheikh of the lodge, dies.
  8. 1979 A spring fire destroys the wooden lodge. Only the stone stairs, the gate with its inscription and the small graveyard survive. The inscription from the ceremony-hall door now stands in the garden of the Galata Mevlevi lodge.
  9. 2018 The General Directorate of Foundations is rebuilding the lodge in its original form, on its original plot.
  10. 11 May 2024 The lodge reopens, 99 years after the closure, run by the İnsan ve İrfan Foundation. A chronogram poem over the new entrance encodes the Hijri year 1445. The first Sema is held on 18 May 2024.

The building

The lodge was a three-storey wooden building in the Empire style of the early 19th century, in two parts, the selamlık and the harem, built as two joined rectangular blocks: the ceremony hall at the front and the dervishes' cells behind. Its octagonal ceremony hall, the semahane, had fluted columns and a gallery reached by stairs along the walls. Its timber is recorded as having been brought from Romania. The lodge was rebuilt in its original form.

The empty octagonal ceremony hall of Kasımpaşa Mevlevihanesi with a wooden floor, a gallery on columns and a chandelier
The semahane, the ceremony hall, with the gallery where guests sit above and around the floor.

The poem over the courtyard gate, which survived the fire, praises Mahmud II for the restoration of 1834–35. A new inscription, in gold on red, records the reopening: its four lines are a chronogram, a verse whose letters, read as numbers, add up to the year 1445 of the Hijri calendar.

Red plaque with four lines of Ottoman Turkish calligraphy, the chronogram poem dating the lodge's reopening to 1445 AH
The reopening inscription. Read as numbers, its letters add up to 1445 in the Hijri calendar (2023–24).

The graveyard

The small graveyard, the hazire, is one of the three parts of the old lodge that survived. Its Ottoman headstones stand in rows, with broken fragments set into the garden wall. The founder, Sırrı Abdi Dede, was buried in 1631 in an open tomb in the lodge garden.

Rows of tall Ottoman headstones and fragments set into a stone wall in the graveyard of Kasımpaşa Mevlevihanesi
The lodge graveyard, one of the few parts of the old lodge to survive the 1979 fire.

The lodge today

The lodge is run by the İnsan ve İrfan Foundation, a non-profit working to preserve Istanbul's Sufi heritage. As well as the Sema on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 17:00, it holds exhibitions on the lodge's history and a dervish's trousseau, has an upstairs gallery of calligraphy and traditional arts, and runs workshops in ebru (paper marbling), calligraphy, miniature painting and felt-making, booked separately. It is accessible by lift.

Questions for the lodge: write in the chat. The lodge's own site, in Turkish, is kasimpasamevlevihanesi.com.

Questions people ask

When was Kasımpaşa Mevlevihanesi founded?
Between 1623 and 1631, by Sheikh Sırrı Abdi Dede, a dervish of the Galata lodge. He died in 1631 and is buried in the lodge garden.
Is Kasımpaşa Mevlevihanesi the original building?
It stands on its original plot, and its stone stairs, gate and graveyard are original. The wooden lodge burned down in 1979 and was rebuilt in its original form by the General Directorate of Foundations, reopening in 2024.
Who runs Kasımpaşa Mevlevihanesi?
The İnsan ve İrfan Foundation (İnsan ve İrfan Vakfı), a non-profit dedicated to Istanbul's Sufi heritage.
Can you visit Kasımpaşa Mevlevihanesi outside the ceremony?
The lodge's own site lists opening hours of 10:00 to 18:00, closed on Mondays, by appointment. For the ceremony, reserve a seat.

Sources