To the south of the enclosure of the Suleymaniye Mosque, below a row of cupolas typically oriental and Turkish, all the works of art related to Islam and Turkey has been assembled. Originally this place was called the “Museum of the Evkaf”. In the numerous rooms of this historic building have been collected the most ancient, the most precious and the rarest of the moslem works of the epoch. This constitutes a separate treasure.

The first hall on the right displays the products of the classical Turkish ceramic works of Konya, Diyarbakir and Izmit. The Seljuk and Mameluke ceramics made from the 12th century on, the wall frescoes of Arab and Abbaside origin and the Samarra pieces of the 9th century are very valuable. There are tombstones, Abbaside tombs of the 8th century, Mameluke tombs of the 15th century and a Seljuk sphinx in the yard.

The second hall features exclusively rugs and mother-of-pearl. The rugs are of Gordes, Usak, Konya and Bursa origin or of Yoruk make dating as far back as the 15th century. There are mother-of-pearl inlaid Koran covers, boxes, chests and reading stools. The Koran chest resting on legs, made by Dalgic Ahmet Cavus in the 18th century, is a masterpiece of handicraft.

The third hall is allotted to rugs and metalware. Starting on the right hand side, you can see silver pieces, each more exquisite than the other. These are oil burners, boxes, incense burners, lanterns, pendants, cages, grates, rosewater urns and chests. Further on, belts inlaid with emeralds, topaz and rubies are displayed in glass cases. In another showcase we see gem studded golden candlesticks, one meter high. A Persian rug of the 16th century, hung on the wall, is priceless. In the same hall there are pieces of the 13th and 15th century Mameluke copperware. Then, we see showcases displaying aigrettes and jewelry. Pearls, ivory combs, earrings are some of the pieces that were in vogue and cherished during the past centuries. In the showcase at the center, a single hair of the Prophet’s beard is preserved in two interplaced jeweled crystal boxes. These two boxes are further encased in a golden protective case. As the same display contains the holy relics, there are many objects collected from the corvents of the dervishes. A tremendous key represents the city of Mecca.

An embroidered cloth in a separate display is wrought with gold and pearls on a petroleum green background. When we continue our round of the hall, we come across the samples of Seljuk metalcraft on the wall. These are of Mousul and Anatolian origin. Further on come the lanterns and candlesticks. All the rugs hung on the wall are of Caucasian origin and rare pieces of the 17th and 18th centuries. Then there is a masterpiece of art, a candlestick brought from the Selimiye mosque in Edirne.

In a case at the center, we see, in addition to the incense burners and rosewater urns, objects used in bathing, like basins, ewers and bowls. One of these (in which coin-shaped metal discs are tied by fine chains) is not used in bathing, but against the evil eye. This used to be filled with water, with incantations recited over it, and used against the evil eye. As well known, the power of the evil eye has survived into out-modern times, but we do not have leaden bowls now to ward them off.

We would Like to call your attention to the interesting object standing next to the wall: a bronze kettledrum, which performed, at a more modest scale, the combined functions of radio, television, telephone and press agency, at a time when these had not yet come into existence. A relic of Diyarbakir origin, dating back to the 12th century. On the right hand side near the exit, samples of the Mameluke metalcraft are on display.

The fourth hall displays exclusively rugs and mother-of-pearl objects. The wooden doors and window case standing on either side of the entrance are very valuable pieces of the 13th century Konya, Seljuk and Karaman art. The rugs are of Usak, Konya and Bergama origin of the 16th century and later periods. A Seljuk rug of the 13th century is spread on the floor. We had seen other samples of wooden and mother-of-pearl Koran cases in the second hall. Those we see here represent the 16th century and later periods. Near the exit of this hall, there are wooden biers bearing inscriptions in relief. Those of later periods are all cut stone. These older pieces are wooden.

The fifth hall is allotted to calligraphy, tablets, books and connected objects : In the first showcases at the entrance, we can see Korans of Umeyyade origin, inscribed on parchment. These large size books are the oldest Korans dating back to 650-700 A. D. Further, there are the Abbaside period Korans of the 10th century and later. As the prospering of the Islamic State was paralleled by abandonment of nomadism, a settled mode of living, development of fine arts and prodigality, we can find a representation of these social movements in the Koran pages: in the use of gilt embellishment and illumination. When we proceed further down the row of showcases, we see a display of Korans, each worth a treasure: Korans of the Ayyubite (13th century), Andalusian [15th century), Ottoman and Egyptian ages. One of these is one meter tall. The one written for Gansu Gavri is dated 1501-1516. Another one, with Persian translation, is dated 1480. There are tablets and fine pieces of calligraphy on the wall. One of these, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, is priceless. Then we see Koran cases, all embellished with mother-of-pearl. At the center are displayed Persian books of the 15th century, which are all gilded with very artistically made covers. On the wall hangs a compass and a map of Anatolia, drawn vertically, i.e., its topograhy views Anatolia from the Black Sea. Next to the right wall, illuminations and “sehname” (epopee) are displayed. One Ferdowsi sehname is dated 915. The other Persian illuminations belong to the 15th and 16th centuries. Beautiful Turkish volumes of the 18th and 19th centuries, each prettier than the next, are in the showcase at the center. The leathercraft and gilt works are very fine. While looking at the illumination in the open pages of a book on the extreme left, we suggest that one net urn and enter the garden shown in the picture. The colors are amazingly vivid and numerous in this garden picture of unusual scales that closely resembles Western art. The food carried in covered dishes to some pleasant recess of the garden, are frozen forever at a certain hour in eternity.

In the showcases on the left of the hall, we see all kinds of physical instruments assisting the inspiration, idea and taste in writing a book, putting poetry on paper or tinting an illumination. A series of mysterious tools needed by hand, at the times when everything depended upon that sacred organ, created by God and Nature; penknives, wood- or mother-of-pearl handled scissors, seals, pen holders, writing chests. Some of these tools, drawing on the mysterious sources of the past centuries an used in performing the secret arts of those eras, need further explanation. The “muste”, for example. These were used to grind the colors for embellishing books with gold water and color. The “muhre” (polissoir), for another thing. This was used to burnish the writing paper. The piece we see here belongs to the 18th century. Then we see the holsters of wood and mother-of-pearl.

When we proceed towards the exit, we see on walls and in showcases, Turkish illuminations and edicts. At a time when drawing human likeness was not condoned in the Turkish-Islam society, the need to draw pictures, the secret ambition of all artistic natures, was expressed in these linear and flower motifs that we see here. The tablets near the exit, signed by Sheik Hamdullah and the gilded motifs created by Ahmet Karahisari and Abdullah Kirimi, all 15th century works, are very famous. As the rich Europeans of the same period used to draw greater enjoyment from their tea when sipped gazing at their treasured Rembrandt, Van Dyck or Rubens, hung on the mantelpiece, the walls of the sea houses in Istanbul, on which the reflections of the sea used to create images of light and shade, were decorated with the gilt lines and colorful flowers, the examples of which we see here, and the Istanbul gentry used to have feelings similar to these of their European contemporaries in smoking their pipes or drinking their coffee in front of their possessions of art.