|
The Mevlevi Derwishes
The order of the Mevlevi Derwishes, commonly called "whirling"
because of their
rite, was established during the XIII century in Konya, Turkey. Its founder,
Jalal al-
Din Rumi, to whose teachings the Mawlawis refer, was born in the Khurasan
(Afghanistan) on September 30111, 1 207 A.D. At the age of five he was
compelled
to expatriate following his father, the great mystical Baha al-Din Walad
called "The
Sultan of the Scholars". After some pilgrimage, he settied in Konya
where he died
in 1273 A.D. and where he was buried. Konya, the Mother House of the Order,
has
been, since then, the destination of pilgrims from all over the world.
The sama'
The sama' (literally the "hearing" which, in the symbolism of
the dance, refers to the
cosmic harmony), though it was a fundamental rite of the Mevlevi dervishes
order
from the 14 century, it came to acquire a particular cosmic symbology
and precision
in its modality in the 16th century, when many leading figures of the
intellectual and
religious world joined the order. the elaboration of the thought of Jalal
al-Din Rumi,
in the light of the cosmological doctrines of Ibn Sina, Biruni and some
mystical
thinkers, defined the sama' in its relation to the cosmos and the rotation
of the
celestial spheres and planets.
Some initiates through the particular rite drew on the complex
gnosis of the cosmic
power. Through the symbolic performance, spectators admitted to the ceremony
were allowed the reception of the cosmic harmony and the unitary sense
of the laws
which regulate its multiple aspects. From this came the name - sama'khana
- "the
hall of listening" bestowed on the space in which the ceremony was
held.
The sama'khana
The essential architectonic elements of the sama'khana are
the dome and the
underlying area devoted to the sama' ceremony. Consequently, the space
tends to
a layout definition as a central plan. the Cairo sama'khana was one of
the latest to
be built during the long period of the existence of the Mevlevi brotherhood.
In it,
like in other rare examples of the last period, the dance area is circular
and everything
is according to a central plan. In the development of this particular
type of architecture,
starting with the first central plan of Manisa (XIV century) up to the
Kutaya one (XIX
cent.), both in Turkey, the Cairo sama'khana contemporary to the Kutaya
sama'khana,
constitutes the final moment of this evolution. the architectural aspects
of the Cairo
sama'khana are designedly simple. the interior space and the exterior
volumes
produce a sensation of measured harmony lending an air of balanced tastefulness
which pervades in the interior as well, where the Ottoman Baroque decor
appears
extremely elegant. It represents the maximum expression of geometrical
and
cosmological symbolism which defines the functions and the proportions
of the
architectural space where the sama', the Mevlevi mystic ceremony, takes
place.
G.F.
The restored sama'khana of the Mevlevi Dervishes in Cairo-Egypt
was opened to visitors in
1988. It is part of a large architectural complex in which the Italian-Egyptian
Center for
Restoration and Archaeology (C.F.RR. Italy) is locatedi. It also serves
as training restoration center,
in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, S.C.A.
Based on:
G. Fanfoni, "An underlying Geometrical Design of the
Mawlawì Samà'Hàna in Cairo", Annales
Islamologiques, XXIV (1988), pp, 207 - 232
Copyright © Centro Formazione Professionale Restauro
- 2006
Via S. Ippolito, 48 - 00162 Roma - ITALIA
|
