Journal of Art History

Abstract

It is thought that the first Mevlevi Lodge in Afyonkarahisar was built during the period of Arif Çelebi in the first quarter of the 14th century. Instead of the first Mevlevi Lodge, which we think was built of wooden material, a new one was built by Abâ Pûş-i Bâlî. The Mevlevi lodge has undergone many fires and repairs until the beginning of the 20th century. The area, which includes all of the tomb, semahane, mesjid, sherbet place and nartex was served as the Mevlevi lodge until the closure of dervish lodges in 1925, is now called the Mevlevi Tomb Mosque. The building, which was repaired in accordance with the original in 2008, is still in use. The harim section gathered under the central dome of the mosque consists of the semahane and the tomb. The large arch that carries the central dome sits on a rectangular shaped marble column capitals adjacent to the wall. The place in front of the mihrab is separated from the semahane by a large arch. The upper cover was divided into two with a half arch applied from the middle of the mihrab wall towards this arch and it was covered with two domes. The east entrance of the building is in the middle of the east wall, from the sherbethane (women’s section). On the left of this entrance, you can reach the women’s section on the upper floor with wooden stairs. This section is covered with two small domes. The conical top cover of the last congregation place consists of two cross vaults consisting of four parts inside. The interiors of the dome, vaults, arches, and over the windows are decorated with floral engravings made of repeating rumi and folded branches. The decorations of the building, which has the characteristics of the late period Ottoman mosque and civil architecture examples, attract attention with their western, local ornamentation features belonging to the transition period between neo-classical style and eclectic style. As the Afyonkarahisar Mevlevi Tomb Mosque is a part of the Mevlevihane building complex, it shares the same courtyard with the Mevlevihane units, such as the matbah in the northwest and the dervish cells in the north east. The courtyard has two entrances from the north and south. This building, which is the main building of the Mevlevihane, is called the Mevlevi Tomb Mosque, because it is located inside the tomb unit. The semahane and tomb plan scheme gathered under the single dome of the Mevlevi Tomb Mosque can also be seen in the Karaman Zawiyah (14th century). Although the composition of the tomb, masjid and semahane is gathered under a single dome in the Karaman Zawiyah, the tomb part in Afyonkarahisar Mevlevihane continues in the mosque area (in front of the mihrab) separated from the semahane by an arch. In our study, the Mevlevi Tomb Mosque was introduced and evaluated in detail, and its place and importance in Anatolian Turkish architecture was tried to be revealed.