HACIBEKTAS Cappadocia

HACIBEKTAS

Hacibektas, is 40 minutes drive from Goreme, located in northern Cappadocia. It is the center of Bektasi sect of Islam founded by the great philosopher Haci Bektas-i Veli in 13th century. You can visit the dervis dergah (lodge) which is a museum today, cilehane (suffering house), bestaslar (five stones) and a cemevi (an alevi temple) in Hacibektas. If your visit is timed for August, you will be able to watch the international commemoration ceremonies, and get an idea of the living traditions of the order’s followers. Hacibektas is the sacred center of Alevi Islam, and every year on 16, 17 and 18 August, tens of thousands of people flock here, not just from Turkey, but from Bulgaria, Albania and other Balkan countries.

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HACI BEKTAS-I VELI

" How glad for those who shed light into the darkness of thought. " 

These words, written by Haci Bektas-i Veli, the famous Turkish-Islamic mystic, philosopher, and dervish from Khorasan, echo delicately in our ears as we enter the dervishes' convent. The lines, fraught with meaning, impart peace and love to our souls and transport us to the worlds completely different from our own. The stamp of Haci Bektas-i Veli's imprint upon Turkish, Islamic, and world history is deep and unmatched. Let us, therefore, attempt to become acquainted with and develop a sense for his world, filled as it is with love for humanity and for the universe, never forgetting that this is the path of love, the path of peace, the path of knowledge, the path of belief. 

In Khorasan's city of Nishabur, most likely in the years between 1243 and 1248, a son was born to Seyyid Ibrahim Sani and his wife Hatern Hatun, the daughter of Sheik Ahmet. His mother's compassion and his father's love for equality and humanity were the foundations upon which his upbringing was based and such sentiments informed and enriched his boyhood years. His studies under the tutelage of Hoca Ahmet Yesevi of Turkestan equipped him with a knowledge of positive scielices and in the school of his illustrious philosopher-mentor, he studied mathematics and physics along with literature and philosophy. Under Sheik Lokman Perende, one of Ahmet Yesevi's successors, he studied mysticism. From the works of the poet Omar Khayyam, Feridettin Attar, and Sheik Numan he took his inspiration. Khorasan possessed a vast cultural heritage that had nourished many a scholar and philosopher. Haci Bektas-i Veli completed his studies in Khorasan, acquiring from them a broad and genial view of the world. His education encouraged this young Islamic mystic to become better acquainted with humanity, and Haci Bektas-i Veli began to seek the fire of infinite love within himself. Becoming a well-known Sufi, he set out from Khorasan to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Leaving Mecca, he traveled to Syria and then continued his journeys in Persia, Iraq, and Arabia. During these years, Anatolia was in a state of severe political and economic disarray. Haci Bektas-i Veli was affected by this situation and came to Anatolia with the idea of restoring fragmented Turkish unity, and took part in the effort to make the peninsula a Turkish and Muslim homeland.

The principles and elements of Haci Bektas-i Veli's philosophy and life became the foundation on which the Bektashi dervish order developed. Bektashism was based on four tenets or "doors":

• the Door of the Shariah (Religious Law),
• the Door of Mysticism,
• the Door of Truth,
• and the Door of Spiritual Knowledge.

In their Ceremony of Confession, Bektashis vowed to be responsible "for their hands" (the things they do), "for their loins" (their desires), and "for their tongues" (what they say). This vow was a powerful and meaningful expression of the belief that one's should be channeled towards love and respect. Love of God and love of man lie at the foundation of Haci Bektas-i Veli's philosophy. In this philosophy, the mystic examined the universe that the Creator had created. Rules that nature had determined millions of years ago were just as applicable as ever in an infinity in which courtesy and savagery embraced. Since it came into being, humanity has been the greatest observer of a perfect order. In this world, there is a securely anchored chain of rule and order. Haci Bektas-i Veli was deeply influenced by the perfection, harmony, and order that he observed in the universe. 

Some of the most known aphorisms of Haci Bektas-i Veli are:

• Seek and find. Do not hurt even if you are hurt yourself.
• Educate your women. Control your deeds, tongue, and desires.
• Whatever you seek, look for it in yourself. The adept are both pure and purifying.
• The first step of a talent is modesty. A person's perfection lies in the beauty of what he says.
• Condemn no nation or person. Do not impose on someone that which is too burdensome for him to bear.
• The end of the road that does not pass through knowledge is darkness. How glad for those who shed light into the darkness of thought.
• Prophets and saints are God's gift to humanity.

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HACI BEKTAS-I VELI MUSEUM, THE DERGAH

When you visit the Dervish Dergah (lodge) in the center of the town, you will be introduced to the Alevi order, one of the biggest heterodox branches of Islam. The Dergah or Dervish lodge of Hacibektas became a museum in 1964. The entrance leads intoa large courtyard, to the right of which once stood buildings accommodating the dervishes who worked the land and farm laborers employed by the lodge. These buildings were demolished when the lodge was being converted into a museum, and a wall was built here. At the far end of this wall is the Ucler Fountainsymbolizing the Creator, Muhammed and Ali, a fundamental concept of the Alevi faith. An open space on the left is like a small park, and originally there were stables for the horses of guests, barns and other outbuildings here. At the end of the courtyard a gate leads into a second courtyard, where there is a pool with a border of flowers. You can drink from the holy water of the Lion Fountain. The inscription over this fountain explains that the lion statue was brought from Egypt as a gift to the lodge in 1853. The second courtyard was the busiest part of the lodge, with the asevi (refectory), pantry,hamam (baths), guest house, hall where the sacred services known as cem were held, and the pavilion where the lodge's leader, the Dedebaba, received guests. The final gateway leads into the third courtyard where the tomb of Haci Bektas Veli stands. On the right are the graves of dervishes belonging to the lodge, and in the small mausoleum just beyond lie Balim Sultan and Kalender Sah, two great figures of the order. The ancient wishing tree in front of the mausoleum is one of the places where visitors stop. Before entering the mausoleum it is customary for visitors to embrace the cylindrical marble stone in the right-hand corner. If you can embrace it with two arms, then it is regarded as proof that your heart is clean and your intentions are pure. The tomb was built by Seyhsuvar Ali, lord of the Dulkadirogullari principality, in 1519 following the death of Balim Sultan. 

The walls of the mausoleum are decorated with painted kalem isi, and there are examples of Bektasi calligrapher. The door is original. The mausoleum of Haci Bektas Veli himself is known as Pir Evi, and at the entrance are the graves of the baba's of the order, dervishes who attained the highest degree. As you walk towards the Kirklar Meydani hall, on the right you pass the cilehane, a cell where the dervishes spent time alone in the presence of God. If you wish to see inside you must bend almost double, and a few minutes alone in that dark cell gives you an impression at least of what it must have been like for the dervishes who came here. On the raised platform to the left of the Kirklar Meydani are buried the descendants of Haci Bektas who sat on the ceremonial fleece of office and were known as celebi or bel evlatlari. In this hall where the dervishes performed the ceremonial dance known as the kirklar semahi, are now exhibited the twelve sided stones known as teslim tasi which the dervishes hung around their necks as symbols of the Bektasi order, earrings worn by unmarried dervishes who devoted their lives to serving their lodge, handwriting of the Caliph Ali on gazelle skin, beautiful examples of calligraphy, torches, censers, and the Kirkbudak Candelabra which according to the Velayetname came from India. Finally a small door on the right leads into the tomb chamber of Haci Bektas Veli, where visitors perambulate three times around the sarcophagus before offering up a supplication to Haci Bektas Veli. Near the lodge is Dedebagi, an open park scattered with trees, where visitors who have come for the commemoration ceremonies gather to picnic and drink the ice cold spring water from a fountain known as Sekerpinar. 

Cilehane-Deliklitas 
This is a cave located on Mt. Arafat three kilometers east of town, which, according to some, was used by Haci Bektas-i Veli as an ordeal cell. A local popular belief holds a person who passes through the hole in the rock will be purged of his sins. Also on the hill are a sacred spring, the Hact Bektas-i Veli, Yunus Emre, and Ozanlar (Bards) monuments, and a theater seating 5,000 people. The tomb of Mahsun-i Serif, the great Turkish poet and composer, who died recently is also in Cilehane.

Bestaslar 
This site is located near Civril village about five kilometers north of town. The five huge rocks (Bestaslar means "Five Rocks") are geologically unusual and there is a legend told about them that is related in detail in Velayetname. According to the legend, these are the five stones who came to witness that Haci Bektas-i Veli is telling the truth. You will learn all the legends about Haci Bektas and other parts of Cappadocia from your guide. 

In Turkish Heritage Travel, you can tailor make private tours including Hacibektas. The rate of full day private tours is 100 Euro per person including entrance fees, professional guide, lunch and transfers. 

DERINKUYU UNDERGROUND CITY

DERINKUYU UNDERGROUND CITY

Underground Cities? These troglodyte cave-cities were excavated as early as Hittite times, and expanded over the centuries as various marauding armies traversed Central Anatolia in search of captives and plunder. There are 36 underground cities in Cappadocia and the deepest one isDerinkuyu underground city, while the widest is theKaymakli Underground City.

The Derinkuyu underground city is located in the same named town Derinkuyu, which is situated 40km from Goreme (30 minute drive). There are about 600 outside doors to the city, hidden in the courtyards of surface dwellings. The underground city is approximately 85m deep. It contains all the usual rooms found in an underground city (stables, cellars, storage rooms, refectories, churches, wineries etc.) Apart from these, a large room with a barrel vaulted ceiling on the second floor was a missionary school, the rooms to the left being study rooms.

From the 3rd and 4th floors onwards the descent is by way of vertical staircases which lead to a cruciform plan church on the lowest floor.

The 55m deep ventilation shaft was also used as a well. Not every floor was provided with water wells up to the surface in order to protect the dwellers from poisoning during raids. Derinkuyu contains at least 15,000 ventilation ducts that provide fresh air deep within the underground city. The Derinkuyu Underground City was opened to visitors in 1965 but so far less than half of it can be visited.

It is unlikely that the underground cities were ever intended for permanent dwelling, or even long stays, but they were clearly built to withstand attack and could support large numbers of people and their domestic animals, for extended periods of time. The urban organization was very complex, and there was probably always work in progress.

The extensive networks of passages, tunnels, stepped pits and inclined corridors link family rooms and communal spaces where people would meet, work and worship. The cities were complete with wells, chimneys for air circulation, niches for oil lamps, stores, water tanks, stables and areas where the dead could be placed until such time as conditions on the surface would allow their proper disposal. Most importantly, carefully balanced moving stone doors, resembling mill stones, were devised to quickly block the corridors in the event of an attack. Of course, these doors operated from one side only!

At Turkish Heritage Travel, we organize private tours to Derinkuyu Underground City. The rate of the tour is 45 Euro per person based on minimum 2 people including transfer to/from your hotel in Goreme, entrance fee and professional guide. The tour takes around 2 hours. Please send us an email to get further information and book tours.

GOREME OPEN AIR MUSEUM

GOREME OPEN AIR MUSEUM

The Goreme Open-Air Museum resembles a vast monastic complex composed of scores of refectory monasteries placed side-by-side, each with its own fantastic church. It is obviously the first sight to be visited by any traveler in Cappadocia, standing as it does in the very center of the region with easy access from all directions. It is only 15 minutes walk (1.5km, 1 mile) from Goreme village center. It contains the finest of the rock-cut churches, with beautiful frescoes (wall paintings) whose colors still retain all their original freshness. It also presents unique examples of rock hewn architecture and fresco technique. The Goreme Open Air Museum has been a member of UNESCO World Heritage List since 1984, and was one of the first two UNESCO sites in Turkey.

The area covered by this Open Air Museum forms a coherent geographical entity and represents historical unity. There are eleven refectories within the Museum, with rock-cut churches tables and benches. Each is associated with a church. Most of the churches in Goreme Open Air Museum belong to the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries.

The entrance fee to the museum is 15 TL per person. In summer, it is better to visit the museum early in the morning or late afternoon, instead of mid-day. There are many churches and chapels in Goreme Open Air Museum but the most important ones are:

Nunnery
The 6-7 storey rock mass to the left of the museum entrance is known as "the Nunnery". The dining hall, kitchen and some rooms on the first floor, together with the ruined chapel on the second level, can still be visited. The church on the third storey, which can be reached through a tunnel, has a cruciform plan, a dome with four columns and three apses. The templon on the main apse is rarely found in Goreme's churches. Besides the fresco of Jesus, painted directly onto the rock, designs painted in red can also be seen. The different levels of the monastery are connected by tunnels, and "millstone doors", such as those found in the underground cities, and were used to close off these tunnels in times of danger.

St. Barbara Church
This church is situated behind the rock housing Elmali (Apple) Church. It has a cruciform plan, with two columns. The north, south and west arms of the cruciform are barrel vaulted, and the center, the east arm, and the east corners are domed. There are a main, central apse and two side apses. Motifs were painted in red directly onto the rock. The walls and the dome are decorated in a variety of motifs including geometrical patterns, mythological animals and military symbols. The walls also have motifs resembling stonework. This church dates back to the second half of the 11th century.

Apple (Elmali) Church
One of the most prominent buildings in the area with its vivid colors, the church is a groin-vaulted structure with cross-in-square plan, having four columns and a central dome. It has beautiful frescoes dating to the 11th and 12th centuries. And where these have fallen off, you can see simple red-painted ornaments from the iconoclastic period. The frescoes are narrating scenes from the Bible and the life of Christ, the Hospitality of Abraham and Three Hebrew Youths. The building derives its name from the apple orchard collapsed a long time ago, in front of the main entrance.


Snake (Yilanli) Church
This church has a linear plan, consisting of two chambers. The front section is barrel-vaulted, while the back one has a flat ceiling. The red ochre ornaments imitate hewn stone plait. Frescoes dated to the 11th century, are painted directly on the wall. Opposite the entrance, there is an image of Christ with a book in his hand, and at his left, on both sides of a large cross, are Emperor Constantine and Helena. Right next to it, the Killing of the Snake by St. George and St. Theodore is depicted. On the opposite wall, Onophrios can be seen with a sapling in front of him, also the Apostle Thomas, and the founder of the building, St. Basileios holding a book in one hand and sanctifying with the other.

Dark Church (Karanlik Kilise)
The entrance to this church is from the north through a winding tunnel which opens into a barrel-vaulted narthex. You have to pay an extra admission fee (8 TL per person) but it is surely worth it. In the south of the narthex there are three graves, two of which are big and the other, small. The church has a cross plan, the arms of the cross having a diagonal vault. The templon of the main apse has been destroyed. This Church dates to the end of the 12th century. Some of the scenes on the walls are Deesis, Annunciation, Journey to Bethlehem, Nativity, Baptism, Raising of Lazarus, Transfiguration, Entry into Jerusalem, Last Supper, Betrayal of Judas, the Crucifixion and Anastasis.

Carikli (Sandals) Church
This two columned church (two other columns being in the form of pillars), is cross vaulted, and has three apses and four domes. The well preserved frescoes show the life of Jesus, Hospitality of Abraham, and images of the saints and the donors of the church. Although it resembles both the Karanlik (Dark) and Elmali (Apple) Churches, the scenes of the Way of the Cross and the Descent from the Cross make this church different from the others. The figures are generally large. The footprints under the Ascension scene give the church its name, which means "with sandal". The church dates back to the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries. The center dome houses a picture of Jesus the Pantocrator with the busts of angels in the insets. On the central apse is Deesis, on the north apse Mary and the Baby Jesus, and on the south apse, a picture of St Michael.

Buckle (Tokali) Church
Even though Tokali church is located down the museum around 50 meters, you can visit the church with the same ticket that you used for Goreme Open Air Museum. It is a complex made up of 4 main chambers. The entrance to the New Church having a rectangular plan with longitudinal axis is made through the barrel-vaulted single-naved Old Church. This rock settlement is divided with arches into three sections. Containing the most important samples of paintings, the building has been decorated in various periods.

In the Old Church section, frescoes dated to early 10th century, painted in bands of rich red and green, represent scenes from the Bible. The indigo dominating the main chamber frescoes in the New Church, is a feature discerning the structure from the others. Among the rock churches in Cappadocia, Tokali has the best paintings narrating the life of Christ in the most detail. The church is decorated with the Infancy (childhood of Christ), Ministry and Passion cycles, with several episodes from the life of St. Basileios.

We offer private tours to Goreme Open Air Museum at any time you prefer. The rate of the tour is 50 Euro per person including transfer to/from your hotel in Goreme, entrance fees (both for the museum and Dark Church) and licensed guide. The tour takes around 2 hours.

Please contact us for further information and booking Goreme Open Air Museum tour.