During our first full day in Istanbul which involved some just wandering around, we stumbled upon the Türbesi (tomb) of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (A.D. 1842-1918, deposed 1909). I had only ever been to one türbesi before that of Gül Baba in Budapest.
The tomb, as it turns out, was originally completed in 1840 and contains the tombs of Sultans Mehmed I, Abdul Aziz, and Abdul Hamid II as well as well as other family members.
The outer courtyard is a cemetery. Traditional Muslim burial rites include inhumation not cremation.
The interior of the türbesi. From what I can find online above ground burial is not part of Muslim funerary practices, so I am unsure of the significance of the covers. I would have guessed "coffin covers" but that apparently coffin burial is not a thing.
The dome above the burials:
To enter here was really no different than entering any other religious place I have been. Be quiet, be respectful, and no-one notices.
Funeral and burial customs are another interesting part of all cultures. I'd say another glimpse into their worldview.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, in typing this up I did a bit of reading up on Islamic burial customs. They are quite interesting and different than Western customs.
DeleteAh! Turkey Tour continues, excellent! You find out about the columns in that outer courtyard cemetery TB?
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - Oh, we have miles and miles to go in Turkey yet. We are almost done with Istanbul (for the moment).
DeleteNo idea about the columns other than they were located on the graves. These were not present in other graveyards we saw - maybe some kind of sign of rank?
Do you know the significance of the column-like things resting on the "covers"?
ReplyDeleteEd - No real idea and the InterWeb has not been helpful. When we visited the tomb of the Dervish Rumi we saw that Dervish graves were decorated with sort of "hat" on their tomb to represent that they were Dervishes. Perhaps as this is a royal cemetery it is meant to represent some sort of status?
Delete