The Hacıbektaş Veli Museum
By Tatjana Hering
“A saint doesn’t die, he only changes shape.”
This is a saying [i] attributed to the 13th century Sufi saint Hacı Bektaş Veli. Buried on the grounds of the dervish lodge in the town of Hacıbektaş, which bears his name, he serves as inspiration for the practices and ideas of the Bektashi order. In the centuries following his life, interpretations of the saint’s being and doing have changed, and so too has the nature of the building complex surrounding his tomb. Significantly, in 1964 the religious site was converted into a museum. This has, by extension, had an influence on the collection contained within the former tekke [ii]. In its current form, the site serves diverse interests: on the one hand, it is an important pilgrimage site for Sufi followers, especially Alevis and Bektashis. On the other, as a museum, it is a space considered in secular terms, which occupies a place in the Turkish national narrative.
Historical Background
Before diving into details about the building complex, its collection, and its understanding and treatment by visitors and administrators, the Sufi saint’s and the order’s historical background will be outlined.
Hacı Bektaş Veli is known for his spiritual work in 13th century Central Anatolia, and for the dervish order he inspired, the Bektashiyye. Despite various traditions and stories about his person and deeds, there is little concrete evidence concerning the historical person of Hacı Bektaş himself, and documents from his lifetime are lacking completely. As a result of this lack of historical information, his life, personality, and work have been subject to myriad interpretive interests and perspectives. He is understood as a Muslim mystic, a saint, and, by some, as one of the first Turkish humanists (Soileau 2018). A considerable influence on the later impact of Hacı Bektaş, as well as on his enduring image, were hagiographic narratives written between c.1481 – c.1501, recorded in the so-called Vilâyet-nâme-i Hazret-i Hünkâr Hacı Bektaş Veli [iii]. According to these documents, a tomb was erected over his burial place shortly after his death. As pilgrimage traffic increased, the structure expanded into a diverse complex of buildings, including a ritual area, a kitchen, and a guest house. This collection of different functional spaces makes it particularly clear that the place was not intended exclusively as a retreat for members of the dervish order, but rather as a multifunctional structure that offered space and resources for members of the order as well as for pilgrims and travellers. The beginnings of the Bektashiyye are characterized by a loose community grouped around the worship of the first Pir [iv]. Eventually, this group assumed a more cohesive structure under the influence of Balım Sultan, who became head of the order and second Pir in 1501/1502, and who recorded the basic principles and ritual orders of the Bektashiyye for the first time. From the 15th century onward, the group exhibited the characteristics of a tariqat [v] (Soileau 2018). In the 1520s, the shrine complex was temporarily closed by Ottoman authorities, likely in response to rebellions carried out by Balım Sultan's grandson, Kalender Çelebi.
Visiting the shrine today is also central for Alevi followers. Alevism historically traces back to groups from the 15th century, which are referred to as Kızılbaş and which began to share a common transregional identity in the 20th century (Dressler 2013). These shared with the Bektashis, above all, Shiite beliefs, and a veneration of Hacı Bektaş as an important saint. However, they differed in their organizational form, as the Kızılbaş did not form in a tekke-based order structure. Unlike the Bektashi order, the Kızılbaş were long subjected to persecution and expulsion by state authorities (Sökefeld 2008). In the Ottoman Empire, Hacı Bektaş was considered the patron saint of the Janissaries [vi]. As a result, he held relevance for the Ottoman state, and veneration of the saint began to extend beyond the circles of the Bektashi order and the Alevis. While this connection to the Janissaries initially made Hacı Bektaş more 'presentable' among Ottoman authorities, the relationship also led to the closure of the order by the state in 1826. Shortly after Mahmud II crushed the Janissaries, the Bektashi order was dissolved under accusations of 'heteropraxy' (Soileau 2018). In the process, recently constructed tekkes were destroyed, while buildings older than 60 years were either converted into mosques or Islamic schools, or transferred to other dervish orders. The central dergâh [vii] in Hacıbektaş was run by a leading sheikh of the Nakşbandiyya order after the Bektashiyye were banned. The mosque that still stands in the second courtyard dates from this period. Finally, in the phase of the Turkish Republic, one date is particularly relevant for the tekke in Hacıbektaş: On November 30, 1925, in the course of a policy aimed at modernization and secularization, the Turkish government under Atatürk passed Law 677 to close and ban all dervish orders in Turkey. The Bektashi order, and its headquarters in Hacıbektaş were not excluded.
The museum today and its transformational history
Figure 1. Entrance gate leading to the museum.
With its closing in 1925, all the buildings as well as property of the tekke fell to the state. All movable objects, such as books, carpets, paintings, calligraphies, and other valuable furnishings inside the tekke were divided among various museums in the surrounding area. After a few years, an agricultural school was established on the premises of the former tekke, and all other lands and buildings belonging to the dergâh were sold to them. From the notes of a member of the Ministry of Education who had been sent to Hacıbektaş to catalogue the inventory, it appears that after a while the director of the agricultural school had the low-set doorway, which transitions from the first to the second courtyard, enlarged. This was originally built low with the intention that those entering would automatically bow in the direction of the graves, thus implying the Sufi virtue of modesty and humility on a material level. However, when the complex was transformed into an agricultural school, this religiously inspired function lost its usefulness (Soileau 2018). Eventually the demand for the reopening of the building complex came from Bektashi circles, probably inspired by similar processes around Mevlana Rumi's shrine in Konya. With Law 677 still in action, making it impossible to re-open the complex as a dervish tekke, the conversion into a museum at least offered the possibility of making the premises accessible again to pilgrims and other visitors. Eventually, in the 1950s, restoration of the building complex in Hacıbektaş began, and old artifacts were retrieved (Norton 1995). However, since a large series of tekkes had been closed in 1925, it is not certain whether all the objects now on display in the museum originate from this building complex. Furthermore, some locals who witnessed the closure of the complex in 1925 claim that some items were sold or lost in the process. Nevertheless, in 1964, the site was officially reopened as a museum, thereby protecting the complex from the decay that was already visible on some of the buildings during the period of closure.
Figure 2. Floor plan of the museum displayed in the second courtyard, Hacıbektaş, 2019.
The complex is divided into three courtyards, each connected by a gate. Although the architectural style of the former tekke is rather modest compared to other shrine complexes, the sequence of the three courtyards makes clear where the significant core of the complex was originally planned. Only after passing through the first two courtyards do visitors encounter the religious centre of the site: the türbe[viii] of Hacı Bektaş Veli. The spiritual relevance of this structure is also reflected in the names of the gates that one passes through on the way to the tomb. With the names şeriat, tarikat, marifet and hakikat (religious law, the Sufi path, striving for knowledge, truth), the gates reflect the four stages through which, according to Bektashi teachings, one must pass on the way to spiritual knowledge (Yürekli 2012).
While large sections of the first courtyard (2), like stables and depots, were not preserved, the buildings in the second (10) and third courtyard (17) still exist. The second courtyard encompassed the Bektashis’ daily facilities like a ritual space (12), guesthouse (4), bakery, and kitchen (11). There is, furthermore, a mosque (14), a fountain with a lion motif (7) and a water basin (8) in the second courtyard. The third courtyard stands as the religious focal point of the complex, encompassing the tombs of Hacı Bektaş (21) and Balım Sultan (23), the first and second Pirs, respectively, as well as the important ritual area “The Hall of the Forty” (22). In front of Balım Sultan’s tomb stands a mulberry tree (24), and the dervishes’ graveyard (16) is situated on the right (see figure 2).
After entering the complex through the large gate, visitors move through a rather empty first courtyard. The entrance gate is not part of the original tekke complex, but was renewed in the 20th century. In addition to a fountain and an introductory information panel describing the saint, there is also a UNESCO plaque indicating that the building complex has been on the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites[ix] since 2012. This in particular makes it apparent that the complex has been incorporated into a heritage narrative through its museumification. The second courtyard is intended to convey the daily life of the Bektashis to visitors. To this end, some rooms have been converted into display spaces exhibiting their original function. Other rooms are accessible only to the museum staff and are used as administrative or storage spaces.
A large wooden plaque on one of the walls in the second courtyard lists the “golden sayings” of Hacı Bektaş Veli. In references to him (e.g., in museum brochures, Alevi literature, but also on statues as well as in conversations about him), these often function as easy-to-grasp phrases intended to break down the saint's philosophy and thus convey his ideals in a concise manner. The values conveyed therein are meant to cover universally understood principles for peaceful human coexistence and, on this basis, elevate Hacı Bektaş to an accepted figure of identification.
Figure 3. Wax figures in Bektashi clothing in the former kitchen, Hacıbektaş, 2019.
The intention to depict an idea of daily life in the tekke becomes especially apparent when entering the former kitchen area. The first thing that stands out is the former fireplace, where a cooking scene frozen in time is depicted with the help of wax figures and a red glow that illuminates the former fireplace. These figures stand gathered around the black cauldron known as the “karakazan” (Yürekli 2012), which in times of its use presumably fed not only the dervishes of the order, but also the poor as well as the Janissaries. This scenery is not directly accessible to visitors, as it is separated from their area of movement by means of a rope attached to wooden poles.
Figure 4. Exhibition of dervish clothes and objects, Hacıbektaş, 2019.
Similarly, but without waxen figures, the meydan evi – which was the place of assembly for the dervishes – is equipped with sheep skins and rugs supposedly portraying their former arrangement. Adjacent to the meydan evi are rooms that are used as exhibition spaces for objects that are particularly specific to the site: Thus, some photos of the last dervishes who lived and practiced in the dergâh are shown here, as well as calligraphies and pictures which can be directly linked to the tekke. In addition, traditional dervish garments are displayed in person-sized glass cases and their individual parts are named. Other display cases exhibit utensils that dervishes traditionally carried with them on their travels and in everyday life.
Figure 5. Aslanı Çeşme (Lion Fountain) in the second courtyard, Hacıbektaş, 2019.
On the eastern side next to the gate leading from the first to the second courtyard is the “Lion Fountain” (Aslanlı Çeşme), named after the stone lion from whose mouth water flows into a basin. While the fountain is featured on the museum plan, it is not mentioned anywhere else at the site. Despite this, it appears highly relevant in everyday practice. Many visitors bring bottles or large containers to the museum to gather water from the fountain, to benefit from the sacred powers attributed to it by some. This knowledge is not conveyed through museum information channels, such as signs or brochures, but is nevertheless known to some visitors. This is also reflected in the fact that the stores around the museum offer for sale the containers that most visitors use to collect water from the fountain. It seems that not only the museum is involved in collecting, but its visitors as well.
Figure 6. Metal sculpture commemorating Atatürk’s visit to Hacıbektaş, Hacıbektaş, 2019.
The transition from the second to the third courtyard is dominated by a floor-to-ceiling metal sculpture that commemorates Atatürk's visit to the former dergâh in 1919. This memorial was installed by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2009. After that, the third courtyard opens the view to the tomb building of Hacı Bektaş located in the north, and the tomb building of Balım Sultan positioned further in the east. In front of the entrance gate to the tomb building of Hacı Bektaş, signs, shoe racks and benches instruct visitors to take off their shoes before entering the premises. This distinguishes the museum in Hacıbektaş from the museumified shrine of Mevlana and particularly tourist-oriented mosques in Istanbul, where visitors are not asked to take off their shoes. Instead, plastic shoe coverings are provided to protect the carpets. In the Sufi saint’s mausoleum, on the right side of the passageway, is the Çilehane, where, according to the exhibition sign, Hacı Bektaş Veli retreated for 40 days and 40 nights in order to come closer to spiritual perfection. Today, visitors can see through a niche into the space beyond, where a wax figure dressed in Bektashi clothing can be seen in a seated position. There is also a rope stretched in the niche, which is presumably to prevent people from gaining entry to the Çilehane. This area is one of the places, next to the tomb room of Hacı Bektaş, where visitors seem to remain for a particularly long time. Many kneel in front of the niche, touching its sides with their hands and foreheads. This practice is also slightly indicated on the white-painted surface that surrounds the niche to the retreat space, as it looks particularly worn and slightly discolored in some places. Additionally, in passing through some visitors stop to interact with the door frames of the tomb rooms as well as those of the individual courtyards: they kiss the passageways and hold their forehead or hands to them. Likewise, traces of burning candles can be found in rather concealed corners in the third courtyard.
Figure 7. West wing of the Kırklar Meydanı. Dervish tombs in the foreground, exhibits in the background, Hacıbektaş, 2019.
In the northern part of the tomb building is the Kırklar Meydanı, a large hall that leads to the tomb of Hacı Bektaş and provides access to the tombs of other dervishes. On the walls of the Kırklar Meydanı, similar to the meydan in the second courtyard, there are numerous exhibition boxes and explanatory panels. Calligraphies and ancient inscriptions as well as some dervish paraphernalia dominate the exhibition content. In this room, the simultaneity of museum and religious characteristics becomes particularly clear: visitors move between the tombstones of deceased dervishes to read information signs about the Bektashi objects on display there and can enter the spiritual centre of the site, the burial room of Hacı Bektaş, from the same room. With reference to other museumified shrines, it is particularly noticeable here that the tombstone of the saint is accessible without restriction and that circumambulation is also not prevented. Most visitors bow upon entering the türbe of Hacı Bektaş Veli, circling his tomb while saying silent prayers.
Figure 8. Mulberry tree in front of Balım Sultan’s türbe, Hacıbektaş, 2019.
Another central place in the third courtyard is the tomb of Balım Sultan. It is located to the east of the Musoleum of Hacı Bektaş, with a particularly old mulberry tree in front of its entrance gate. In addition to the tomb of Balım Sultan, his mausoleum also includes that of Kalender Çelebi, who, according to Bektashi belief, is said to have been killed under the mulberry tree in front of his grandfather's tomb during the battle against the Ottomans. The mulberry tree is given all the more significance by the legend that traces its origin to Ahmed Yesevi, the Sufi teacher of Hacı Bektaş Velis. Yesevi reportedly threw a branch from Yasi (present-day Kazakhstan) to Sulucakarahöyük (the original name for present-day Hacıbektaş) to mark the spot where Hacı Bektaş Veli would establish his tekke, and it is from this branch that the mulberry tree later sprang (Yürekli 2012). Similar to the Lion Fountain’s significance, this explanation, which places the mulberry tree in the cosmology of the Bektashis, is found in the museum neither on signs nor in museum brochures. Signs have been placed on and around the tree prohibiting the placing of cloths, stones or coins on it. Signs of this practice, which is often understood in connection with the expression of wishes, can be found on many trees of the Çilehane Hill[x] located near the city.
Central to the museum and many pilgrims is the annual three-day commemorative festival in August. During this, lectures, speeches and performances are held, and an enormous number of pilgrims gather in and around the museum, in contrast to its usually small number of visitors. In recent years, the festival has been particularly dominated by the presentation of Alevi culture, and increasingly by their claim to political participation (Soileau 2018).
Concluding remarks
The collection, which can be seen today in and around the shrine of Hacı Bektaş Veli, was created by transforming the former Bektashi headquarters into a museum. The museum, which is under the direction of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Turkish Republic, marks Hacı Bektaş Veli as an important figure of Turkish cultural heritage. The on-site exhibition focuses primarily on the humanistic Turkish representation of the dervish and on a rather practical representation of the dervish life, with, for example, the extensive use of wax figures. The museum is missing the communication of Bektashi narratives that exist in relation to many sections of the site, and which continue to inform practice on the ground. Thereby the collection tells a rather fragmentary story about the place in which it is located.
Looking at how the Hacı Bektaş Veli Museum is treated by visitors can inform questions about what the word collection can and should encompass. Exhibits behind glass, which can classically be described as part of a collection, seem to play a rather subordinate role for many visitors to the museum. Moreover, as mentioned, their actual connection to the building complex is not always certain. At the same time, however, the museum complex gathers central places, such as the tombs of the Pirs, the mulberry tree, the Lion Fountain, and the walls and doorways of the former tekke in general, which are perceived as important by visitors and with which they interact to varying degrees. On the other hand, for visitors who understand the complex as an ethnographic museum to learn about its background, the exhibition cases may be more central than the parts of the collection that are not mentioned by information panels. The collection and its treatment by visitors differ depending on the perspective and knowledge level of the visitors. Basically, and regardless of how collection is understood here, it is important to note that the opening of the complex as a museum has made the collection accessible again to visitors as well as pilgrims, and ensures the further preservation and maintenance of the buildings. In general, throughout the 2000s, several former tekkes have been converted into museums or cultural centres, and thus renovated and preserved.
All photos displayed were taken by the author.
References and further reading
Ágoston, Gábor. “Janissaries.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, Third Edition: https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/janissaries-COM_30927.
Dressler, Markus. “Was ist das Alevitum?“ In: Ocak und Dedelik. Institutionen religiösen Spezialistentums bei den Aleviten, edited by Robert Langer, Hüseyin Ağuiçenoğlu, Janina Karolewski and Raoul Motika, 13–36. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang GmbH, 2013.
Geoffroy, E. “ṭarīḳa.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition: https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/tarika-COM_1183?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-2&s.q=tarika.
Leisten, T. “turba.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition: https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/turba-COM_1259?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-2&s.q=turba.
Norton, John David. “The Development on the Annual Festival at Hacıbektaş 1964–1985.” In: Bektachiyya: Etudes sur l'ordre mystique des Bektachis et les groupes relevant de Hadji Bektach, edited by Alexandre Popovic, 191–200. Istanbul: Isis, 1995.
Salazar, Lucía Cirianni. “Lodges of Debate: Two Museumised Sufi Tekkes in Anatolia.” In: The Art of Minorities. Cultural Representation in Museums of the Middle East and North Africa, edited by Virginie Rey. 2020.
Soileau, Mark. “Conforming Haji Bektash: A Saint and His Followers Between Orthopraxy and Heteropraxy.” Die Welt des Islams 54, 2014: 423–459.
Soileau, Mark. Humanist Mystics. Nationalism and the Commemoration of Saints in Turkey. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 2018.
Sökefeld, Martin. Struggling for Recognition. The Alevi Movement in Germany and in Transnational Space. New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2008.
UNESCO. “UNESCO Tentative List.” https://whc.unesco.org/en/faq/44.
Yürekli, Zeynep. Architecture and Hagiography in the Ottoman Empire. The Politics of Bektashi Shrines in the Classical Age. Farnham, Burlington: Ashgate, 2012.
Notes
[i] Translation by Soileau 2014, 459. The saying stands as a message from Hacı Bektaş to his followers in the Vilayetnâme with reference to his demise.
[ii] The Turkish word tekke refers to the religious and social centres of Sufi communities.
[iii] The aim of this form of literature is not the reproduction of historical facts in the form of a biography in the modern sense. It is much more about proving the sanctity of the person through the recurring motif of miraculous effects. In the Vilâyet-nâme of Hacı Bektaş, legendary stories from the saint's life and the establishment of the community of Bektashis in his name are documented. Transforming into a dove, multiplying food, and riding an animated boulder are some examples of miracles attributed to Hacı Bektaş.
[iv] The term Pir describes the supreme and spiritual leader of a Sufi order. The Pir is usually also eponymous with the respective order (EI 2, “Ṭarīḳa”).
[v] Generally, the term is now synonymous with Sufi orders. Derived from the Arabic ṭarīqa, which stands for “path” or “way,” the term in Sufi vocabulary describes the path from law to divine reality. The term thus encompasses, on the one hand, the spiritual aspiration pursued by each individual of a tarikat and, at the same time, the community in which it is performed (cf. EI 2, “Ṭarīḳa”).
[vi] Janissaries, which derives from the Turkish “yeniçeri” and can be translated as “new soldiers”, were an elite infantry of the Ottoman sultans. Over time, the Janissaries acquired a high, privileged status that gave them enough power to resist military reforms that would have diminished the group's influence. Sultan Mahmud II had them forcibly dissolved in 1826 after they protested the order to abolish them.
[vii] Dergâh can be understood as synonymous to the word tekke. Including a reference to a tomb or shrine of a Pir.
[viii] Türbe is a term from the field of Islamic funerary architecture and basically describes buildings that are called tombs or mausolea in English (Leisten, EI2 “Turba”).
[ix] The Tentative List is a list of proposals made by countries for future nominations for inclusion in UNESCO's World Heritage List (UNESCO Tentative).
[x] The Çilehane Hill is located outside the museum walls, and thereby less under state control, but is still understood by many visitors, especially pilgrims, to be part of the museum experience. Here, however, there are no exhibits in the classical sense, but rather a series of places associated with the life of Hacı Bektaş.
Tatjana Hering received her master’s degree in the Study of Religion at the University of Bayreuth in 2021 with her thesis on the museumification of religious places. As part of her master’s research, she conducted empirical research at the Hacıbektaş Veli Museum in Turkey. Her additional degree in German as a Second Language raised her awareness of language's role in everyday social discourses as well as in academic research and publications.
