The Mevlevi Lodge of Aleppo (Mawlawiyya Takiyya)

The Mevlevi lodge of Aleppo stands outside the old city walls, between Bab al-Faraj and Bab al-Jinan. The Mevlevis are the Sufi order of the whirling dervishes, founded around the poet Rumi in Konya. This is a full complex, with a hall for the sema ceremony, dervish cells, a graveyard and a domed prayer hall; locally it is also called the Mevlevihane Mosque. It goes back to the 16th century. Among the order’s great lodges it ranked fourth after Konya, and after 1925 it served for a time as the order’s seat.

Where it is

Outside the north-west walls, in the Aynayn district. The Queiq river bounds it on the east and north, the Qawanisa quarter on the west. The Bab al-Faraj Clock Tower, Bab al-Jinan and the Bahsita Mosque are all within walking distance, so it fits into a walk along this side of the walls.

Who founded it

According to the Turkish Encyclopaedia of Islam (TDV), two mirzas named Ulvan and Fulad founded the lodge. It grew over the following centuries: Abdulghani Dede laid out the large square on the west side in 1834, and in 1902 the Ottoman governor of Aleppo added a kitchen, an imaret, to feed the dervishes.

What to see

The main door is painted wood with geometric decoration, and an inscription in Ottoman Turkish sits above it. The short minaret rises directly over the main door, with an octagonal balcony. The large dome rests on four arches, with eight round windows in its drum. The mihrab is brown stone and the minbar wood.

On the ground floor are the retreat cells of the sheikh and the dervishes; upstairs, rooms for the sheikh’s family and guests. To the south is a marble-paved prayer area and a fountain where passers-by drank. On the west side are arcades, the old kitchen and the sema hall. The sheikhs are buried in the graveyard to the south-east. There is also a library room, the tomb of Abdulghani Dede and Naib Efendi, and two gardens.

The sema hall and its music

In the 1834 square, beside the open-air prayer ground and the sema hall, are closed, raised iwans — vaulted halls open on one side — built so that women could watch the ceremony. The Aleppan musician Sheikh Ali al-Darwish grew up here: his father was one of the lodge’s dervishes, and the ceremony was held on Fridays. Ali al-Darwish later led the lodge’s ensemble and composed Mevlevi melodies.

After 1925

Ahmed Remzi Dede was sent to Aleppo on an inspection in 1913 and became sheikh of the lodge a year later, in 1914. When Turkey closed its Sufi lodges in 1925, the head of the order, Mehmed Bakir Chelebi, moved its seat to Aleppo. For a time this lodge was the centre of the Mevlevi world outside Konya.

Do not miss

The raised, closed iwans built for women. Facing the sema hall, they show on the spot who watched the ceremony and from where. Look for them first when you enter the square.

Where things stand

We could not confirm whether the lodge is open today. Turkey’s cultural heritage inventory listed the building as “accessible” in March 2026, but we found no dated photograph or restoration report to back this up. Ask on site about visiting hours and access.