Hacı Beşir Ağa Sufi Lodge
Changes After Construction:
- To the south of the Sufi Lodge, a three-storey wooden harem section was built in the mid-20th century on the site of an older structure.
- The Sufi Lodge was used by the Naqshbandi order; in 1885-1886, it was recorded that five people were living in the Sufi Lodge.
- After the closure of Sufi lodges and zawiyas in 1925, the building was left neglected and was allocated for sheltering needs for a period.
- After the building was restored, it saw civil use for a time; today it is used as a solidarity center.
Prominent Features:
- It is the Sufi Lodge unit of the Beşir Ağa Külliyesi; according to its inscription, the Sufi Lodge structure was built separately from the other buildings of the külliye in 1745.
- The Sufi Lodge consists of dervish cells, a kitchen, a dining hall, a selamlık, and a tawhidkhana, and its units are gathered around a porticoed courtyard.
- Around the square-shaped porticoed courtyard are domed dervish cells; the other parts of the Sufi Lodge were designed in a two-storey arrangement on one side of the courtyard.
- The building is regarded as one of the early examples of the stylistic searches that developed under Western influence in mid-18th-century Istanbul.
