Secondary Information

Ottoman Architecture

The Ottomans, in their era, reached the highest level of architecture, achieving a perfect harmony between inner and outer spaces, as well as light and shadow. The architecture of the Ottoman Empire, first developed from the earlier Seljuk architecture, was influenced by different cultures over the years. When Ottomans expanded form Anatolia and Constantinople, to…

Külliye (mosque complex) is a group of structures built around a mosque under a legal entity of endowment or foundation (in Turkish, vakıf). These charity organizations were established by the imperial family, high-level state dignitaries or wealthy people. The goal was for the fund to last indefinitely. They were a self-supporting system in which the…

The large mosques built by the imperial family were called “selâtin cami”, meaning imperial mosque, which are located in the three Ottoman capitals, Bursa, Edirne and Istanbul. They are the equivalent of cathedrals in Christianity. If it was built by the vizier or any state dignitary, it is simply called “cami” (mosque), which are smaller…

Medrese (or madrasah), meaning “the place where lessons are given”, is a secondary or high school in Islamic countries. The first reference to medreses was the house in Medina where the Koran was taught. The house was called dârülkurrâ. The real medrese was opened in Nishabur in the Khorasan Province of Iran in 954, called…

Carpet When archeologists discovered the Kurgan tombs in Pazyryk Valley in the Altay Mountains in East-Central Asia during excavations in 1947-49, they did not expect to unearth a Turkish carpet used by horse-riding pastoral nomads of the steppe. Presently known as the Pazyryk carpet, belonging to the 4th-3rd century BC, today, it is the oldest…

Mosaic is an art form of pattern or picture created from the small pieces of glass, stone, or other materials in various colors. Those pieces, known as tesserae, are usually in the shape of a cube. Although the earliest known examples of mosaics were found in Mesopotamia dating to the late third millennium BC, mosaic…

After the death of Mevlâna Rumi in 1273 his son, Veled, and his disciples founded the Mevlevi Order to institutionalize his teachings. A branch of the Sufi tradition of Islam, the Mevlâna Order is based on the values of loving and being of service to people. The stunning ritual performed by the Mevlevi Order symbolizes…

Sufism, an Islamic mysticism, is a way of life in which a deeper identity is discovered and lived. It is less a doctrine or a belief system than an experience and way of life. Those who follow the Sufi path strive to follow both the inner and the outer aspects of Islam with ever-increasing sincerity.…

As a part of the education of the disciples and the inspiration of Mevlâna, the Mevlevi Orderhas established a symbolic dance, called Sema, performed by the Dervishes, "Semazens". Literary meaning of sema is "hearing". Brought under certain Mevlevi rules during late 15th century, Sema combined with soft music of the Turkish flute (ney) and double…

Konya Mevlâna Müzesi As the capital city of the Great Seljuk Empire (1037-1194), Konya, where Mevlâna lived, was then a very popular place in Anatolia. The current location of the Order in Konya was granted by the Seljuk Emperor Alâeddîn Keykubad to Mevlâna's father Bahaeddin Veled, who was then the chief scholar (Sultan-ül Ulema). When…