Proceedings

The Visual and Material Culture of a Tekke in Kosovo: The Yakova Sheikh Ban Sa’di Lodge

Authors

  • Neslihan Süleyman
    Hacettepe University
After the Ottoman Empire’s period of transition in Rumelia, many of the Sufi orders that had survived through this period have kept operating to the present in the Balkans. One of these Sufi orders is the Sa’diyye. This particular order started to spread in the Balkans between the 18th-19th centuries, and the order is attributed to Sa’deddin Muhammed al-Jibavi (d.1180), the founder of the Tariqa. Compared to other Rum cities, the city of Gjakova situated in Kosovo emerges as one of the regions where the Sa’diyye still actively oprerates. Furthermore, Gjakova has around 10 Sa’di Sufi Lod-ges. One of these Sufi lodges is the Sheikh Ban’s Sâ’di Lodge and is the main subject of this study. The case study of this paper attempts to evaluate the visualist and material aspects that have extended into the Gjakovar culture in terms of the art history of the Sheikh Ban’s Sa’di Lodge. The study seeks to depict the masterful Arabic calligraphies, dervish clothing and items, and musical instruments found in the lodge and to exa-mine them in this context. Some artist names and dates were found in the octagonal dome of the lodge, which is decorated with conic paintings of cities. In addition, the study examines the mihrab in the semahane [building where dervishes perform their sema/dance] and searched the traces of different sects at various places in the lodge. The study also examined instruments still used in the lodge, as well as dervish objects such as the jilbent, table, skewer, and mace. In addition, the study attempted to un-derstand the visual preferences of the Sa’di order by researching the iconic paintings and Arabic calligraphy frames placed in different locations in the lodge.

The Visual and Material Culture of a Tekke in Kosovo: The Yakova Sheikh Ban Sa’di Lodge

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Publication Information

Bela, B. (Ed.). (2025). The Visual and Material Culture of a Tekke in Kosovo: The Yakova Sheikh Ban Sa’di Lodge. In 2nd Balkan Studies Congress Proceedings: Vol. Proceedings 03 (pp. 191-212). Idefe Publications. https://doi.org/10.5331/