GAZİ MESTAN BABA TÜRBESİ’NDE 1900-1916 YILLARI ARASINDA YAPILAN ONARIM-İNŞA FAALİYETLERİ VE MİMAR KEMALETTİN’İN GÖREVLENDİRİLMESİ

Abstract

Historical data on where the Tomb of Ghazi Mestan is relatively less than the Tomb of Hudavendigar and this knowledge can be obtained from a few publications. Based on the documents from the Ottoman Archive, the fact that the Ghazi Mestan Tomb was rebuilt from the foundation due to its irrecoverable state at the beginning of the 20th century has been disclosed for the first time with the current study. The resources also show that the building date of the tomb was either the 14th or 16th century and that it was constructed as an open tomb in the beginning, and then was turned into a closed one, thereby estranging a lot from its first appearance. Having been used by Serbian and Albanian soldiers as a military shelter during the Kosovo War in 1999; eventually the restoration works carried out by Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) were completed and it became accessible for visit in 2012. Based on a few documents related to the Ghazi Mestan Tomb in the Ottoman Archive, it can be concluded that the tomb was in a ruined state at the very beginning of the 20th century. Sheikh Hasan, the tomb keeper of Ghazi Mestan Tomb, attempted for a restoration by reporting the ruined state of the tomb to the Centre and asking for assistance from Sultan Abdulhamit II. Thus, in compliance with the decree dated January 1905, they broke grounds of the Ghazi Mestan Baba Tomb accompanied by prayers on July 15, 1905. However, the construction stopped again after breaking grounds for the tomb. Even though when the construction of Ghazi Mestan Tomb completed and became accessible for visitors could not be determined exactly, it is predicted that it was finished before the visit of Sultan Mehmet Reşad’s visit of the tomb on Friday, June 16, 1911, as a part of his Rumelia Tour. Therefore, in the light of the achieve documents, it could be argued that the construction of Ghazi Mestan Tomb started in July 1905 and was completed in 1911 spring. Right after its restoration, the tomb suffered damages during the Balkan War I (1912), Balkan War II (1913) and the First World War started in 1914. Various attempts were made to reorganize the damaged places during the wars and a significant decision was made as a result of the report prepared by Major Hüseyin Hüsnü Bey from Skopje in order to be able to construct the Tomb of Ghazi Mestan independently. The decision was the assignment of Mimar Kemalettin, who was going to be one of the pioneers of National Architecture Movement I during the Republican Era after the collapse of the Ottoman State, as “General Director of Buildings” to Kosovo with the purpose of making necessary explorations for the restorations of Hudavendigar Ghazi martyr’s cemetery and the tomb of Ghazi Mestan. The Directorate of Foundations (Evkâf-ı Hümâyûn Nezâreti) assigned Mimar Kemalettin Bey some other tasks as well during his journey. According to the archive documents, after completing his explorations in Pristina, Mimar Kemalettin Bey was supposed to go to Vienna to explain the issues related to the plan about the cemetery field allocated for Muslims in Vienna at the Embassy. After Vienna, he would also inspect/ check the recently built tomb of Gül Baba, one of the famous Ottoman Ghazis, in Pest. No other document in the achieve related to the outcome of Mimar Kemalettin’s assignment has been found.