Haci Evrenos Imaret, Komotini

The Site

The Imaret is a late 14th century dervish lodge and soup kitchen complex built by Evrenos Bey. Komotini (Gümülcine) is a mixed Christian-Greek speaking and Muslim-Turkish town that exemplifies a coexistence that was made possible through the exclusion of Muslim and Christian minority groups in Western Thrace and Istanbul, respectively, from the Greek-Turkish population exchange that was foreseen in the Lausanne Treaty. The Imaret, located in the town center, and one of its landmarks, has gone through different uses but was restored in 1998 by the Greek Archaeological Service. It is currently owned and managed by the local Greek Orthodox Diocese and hosts the Ecclesiastical Museum. Despite the great restoration project that has highlighted the site as one of the oldest Ottoman monuments in Greece, the Ottoman character of the monument is rather downplayed or masked through generic references in guided tours and promotional material.

The Practice

Heath Lowry lists the Imaret under “Shared Sanctuaries”, as a dervish lodge – soup kitchen complex that brought together, in its courtyard, for hundreds of years, Muslims and local Christians that in Lowry’s words (33) “were exposed to the Bektashi, heterodox version of Islam”. This historical legacy is not evident or celebrated in the contemporary setting of the site. However, even unintentionally, the site contains other presences that are less visible as well. The collection of ecclesiastical objects includes a few items from the now absent Jewish community of the town. In addition, the icons that are now part of the Museum’s collection were brought to Komotini by refugees from Asia Minor who settled in the area following the Greek-Turkish population exchange.

References

Lowry, H.W., 2009. In the footsteps of the Ottomans : a search for sacred spaces & architectural monuments in northern Greece. Bahçeşehir University Press, Istanbul.