Description of the attraction
The Dervish Monastery of Mevlevi Khane is a Muslim religious building in Plovdiv. It is located in the old part of the city, in a place called Tricholmia. Previously, the building belonged to the Persian religious community of the Order of Dancing Dervishes (Muslim monks leading an ascetic lifestyle), also known as the Mevlevi.
Scientists suggest that a Christian temple stood on the spot where the large square and part of the eastern fortress wall was located. It was probably destroyed in 1410 during civil strife in the Ottoman state.
The monastery complex of Mevlevi Khane consisted of a prayer house - a mosque, a hall for ritual dances of dervishes and residential buildings. At the end of the 19th century, the monastery fell into disrepair. To this day, only a large building has survived, built at the beginning of the same century, intended for ritual dances. It has an almost square shape with dimensions of 14x16 meters. The interior space of the hall is complemented by eight slender oak columns, on which an octagonal ledge rests, and a ceiling with wood sheathing. Historians claim that the ledge was once covered with plaster, decorated with paintings and decorative elements - eight medallions with quotes from the Koran. In the central part of the ceiling is the sun, masterfully carved from wood.
On the east side, the building stands on a high stone plinth, and at the base of the underground part there is an old fortress wall.
To the north of the Mevlevi Khane monastery, archaeological excavations have uncovered the ruins of an ancient city, on the territory of which there were various buildings, and a fortress wall. Currently, the found exhibits are presented at an exhibition in an underground room in the courtyard of the monastery.
