"Sevgiyi Arayış"

Arts & Culture Desk - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Thursday, November 15, 2007

Cultural tour focuses on Mevlevi lodges

The interest in Mevlana Muhammed Jelaluddin Rumi, the 13th-century Sufi saint who advocated tolerance, reason and access to knowledge through love, continues to bring thousands together.

The Greater İstanbul Municipality will introduce cultural tours titled "Mevlevihane tours in İstanbul" as part of a series of activities to mark the 2007 Year of Mevlana declared by UNESCO.

The municipality announced in a written statement that the tours, aimed at familiarizing the public with Mevlevihanes (Mevlevi dervish lodges) in İstanbul and the Mevlevi community, will start this Saturday.

The tours will feature information about the Mevlevihanes in addition to presentations by Professor Mahmut Erol Kılıç about the Yenikapı Mevlevi lodge, which for years has served as a central Mevlevihane for Mevlevi dervishes.

The weekly tours will be organized for 40-person groups and will take place every Saturday until Dec. 29.

In line with the activities marking the year of Mevlana, an exhibition titled "Sevgiyi Arayış" (Seeking Love), featuring examples of the traditional Turkish arts of calligraphy and gilding, will open on Nov. 21 at the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Sultanahmet.

[Picture: Qur'an's wooden case; Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul http://www.virtualistanbul.com/virtualistanbul/Museum_of_turkish_and_islamic_arts.htm].