Galata Mevlevi Museum

Incredibly quiet place in Beyoglu with a beautiful garden and cats walking around. The museum itself is interesting and helps visitors to understand how dervishes were living during the Ottoman era.

Often overlooked in the quest for Galata Tower & Galata Bridge, the Galata Mevlevi Museum, located on Istiklal Street, just before the tower as you walk down the street (staring from Taksim) is a good option for a peek into the life & times of whirling dervishes.

Considering its location just off Istiklal Caddesi, the Galata Mevlevi Museum is surprisingly uncrowded. Exhibits are informative, and there is a great deal of interesting calligraphy inside. Outside, the Hamuşan, or quiet place cemetery is just that — a quiet refuge in a bustling neighborhood. Of special note are the marked grave of Ibrahim Müteferrika, who started the first Arabic-script printing press in Istanbul, and the almost unmarked grave of the 19th century female poet Leylâ Hanım. At the base of the grave is a small, almost unreadable plaque that says "Şair Leyla Hanım." If you can read Arabic script, "Leylâ Hanım" can be read at the end of the first line at the top of her headstone.

This is the first lodge of Mevlevi dervishes in Istanbul and it dates back to 15th century. Of course the building went through various renovations throughout the centuries but the essential is not the building here anyway. The museum exhibits inside give an idea of how the life of dervishes was, their rituals and objects. The room where the Sema (the whirling ceremony) takes place is spectacular. There is also a cemetery inside where the dervishes are buried. The museum pass is valid here. Though the museum officially closes at 6:30 pm, if there are few people around, the staff closes the doors towards 6 pm which has been the case when we were there

The Galata Mevlevi House Museum, or tekke, is a widely known and authentic Mevlevi Whirling Dervish hall. Now a museum, this was a dervish lodge in the Ottoman era. This was the first Mawlawi dervish lodge established within the boundaries of today's Istanbul in 1491. The museum features rooms with scenes of what it may have looked like as prominent historic figures of the order worked. Displays also include calligraphy, music, clock making, and other arts and crafts. Tombs of the prominent are also present on the property as well as a cemetery and gravestones of the somewhat less prominent. This was a lovely, quiet place within the business of the area. There were no lines to get in - possibly a lack of general interest? The entry fee is included with the Istanbul Museum Pass. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to attend the weekly Sema Ceremony (limited attendance and NOT included with the Museum Pass).