Damat Ali Paša's Turbeh

History

Along with the mentioned data from the studies, the most important historical sources for studying the turbeh are: the archival material from the Ottoman period, the rich cartographic material from the 18th century, as well as the marble plaque which used to stand above the entrance to the Damat Ali Paša`s turbeh. This plaque was taken to Budapest during the First World War, and in the process of restitution of the cultural properties, it was returned in 1958. For a while, the plaque was stored and kept in the Military Museum, and then was taken to the present structure of Damad Ali-Paša`s turbeh. The important data is that this plaque, by its dimensions, does not fit the niche above the portal of the existing turbeh. Based on the analysis of all mentioned sources and given data, more precise dating and the attribution of the turbeh were done. The text on the mentioned memorial plaque, turned back from Budapest, gives evidence that killed vizier Damat Ali Paša was buried by his muhurdar (the keeper of the seal), who, when the Austrian occupation ended came back to Belgrade as a defterdar (a Turkish for bookkeeper) and on that occasion, in 1741-1742, he erected a turbeh at the burial site of Damat Ali Paša. This data is confirmed by the Turkish archival material, specifying that Damad Ali-Paša`s turbeh was located next to the sultan Mehmed`s Mosque. The position of this mosque as well as the position of the turbeh was precisely documented in several documents. Damat Ali Paša died in 1716. and was buried in Belgrade. The important data for the location of the original position of Damat Ali Paša`s grave was the position of sultan Suleiman`s mosque, erected soon after the first Turkish conquering of Belgrade in 1521, аnd in whose vicinity Damat Ali Paša was buried. This mosque does not exist nowadays and is only preserved in traces. Based on the existing cartographic material, it is a reliable assumption that the mosque was located in the Upper town of the Belgrade fortress, 40-50m east from the Mehmed Paša Sokolović`s Fountain. During the huge Austrian reconstruction of the Belgrade fortress in the period between 1718 and 1725, the levelling of the Lower town was done, and almost all structures from the earlier period were destroyed. The above-mentioned mosque was destroyed during these works, as well as the burial place of Damat Ali Paša. After the return of the Turkish authority to Belgrade, in 1740, they saw a completely new look of the Upper town of the Belgrade fortress.On that occasion, the existing Austrian building of the guards was adapted to the new Imperial Mosque of sultan Mahmud. As it was already mentioned a defterdar Mustafa, former muhurdar (the keeper of the seal) of Damat Ali Paša, on that occasion, in 1741-1742, erected a turbeh on the site of Damad Ali-Paša`s burial place, east from the new mosque. The traces of this object of the hexagonal base around 5m wide, were preserved, and according to the preserved cartographic data it was covered with a calotte and six-arched roof. Along with this objects, the plans show seven more turbehs of square base in the area around the mosque, probably designed in the form of the open canopy on the top of the graves with scopes. One of the most special and most worth documents for dating and attribution are the plans from the Military Archive in Vienna (KAW sig. G I b 44-1 and sig. G I b 45), on which the turbeh in the central part of the Upper town in the Belgrade fortress was marked as the “burial place of the Paša who died in 1784“. According to the data from the Turkish archive material, the same year was the year when great vizier Izzet Mehmed Pasha was buried in the Upper town of the Belgrade fortress. The mentioned data suggest that the turbeh in the Upper town, which is preserved until today, was erected as the memorial to Izzet Mehmed Pasha. The text on the mentioned scope from 1818–1819, found in the turbeh, proves that the Belgrade vizier of that time Маršali - Paša believed that he was renewing the desecrated grave and the turbeh of Damat Ali Paša`s, as well as the data that the grave was desecrated when the Christians took over Belgrade. Two decades later, the vizier Selim-Paša was buried in this turbeh, who was appointed the Belgrade muhafiz (the commander of the city) in 1847, and suddenly died after only 41 days from the appointment. Thanks to the comprehensive legend from one of the Turkish plans from the mid-19th century (the plan from the Archive of Serbia sig. GK 7), the data was saved that this turbeh was also the burial place of Hasan-Paša. Probably it refers to Hasan-Paša Češmeli, who was appointed the Belgrade muhafiz in 1848, and remained on that position until his death in 1850. After the withdrawal of Turkish army in 1867, the turbeh served as a storage for a while, and then as a museum of old weapons and trophies. During the bombing of Belgrade in 1915, the portal and one part of the niche where the original inscription was, were completely destroyed. Soon after that, in 1915, the Austrians renewed the turbeh. The works on the final reconstruction were undertaken by the City Municipality of Belgrade in the 1930s. Instead of the old broken plaque with the inscription, the new inscription was placed in the niche above the portal, which is preserved up to now. Тhe plaque bears the inscription both in Serbian and Arabic language that that is the burial place of Damat Ali Paša, the conqueror of Моrea.

Description

The turbeh is a simple building of a simple hexagonal base, with shallow calotte on the top which rests upon the drum. The structure was built from the properly hewn stone blocks. The only decorative accent on the exterior are divided profiled cornices and a profiled portal above which there was a niche where the original inscription was. Opposite the entrance, on the southeast wall, there is a niche with ornamented upper part. On the same part of the wall there are small holes for the cressets, which flank the mentioned niche. On the remaining four walls there are windows. The entire building is seven metres tall. In the central part of the turbeh there is a rectangular burial construction, dimensions 2,20x0,85x1,45m. Above this grave there used to be Izzet Mehmed Pasha's scope, which was not preserved. In the available photo-documentation, the building was shown with six-arched roof covered with tiles. Considering that in the itinerary, dealing with the description of the oriental Belgrade (Hans Kunic, 1673.), it was stated that „Turkish temples“ were covered with lead, and that very often it was used as the system of roofing of sacral and funerary structures, there is a possibility that the roof of Damad Ali-Paša`s turbeh was realized in the same way. With its shape, the turbeh fits in the standard shape of the representative funerary structures from the Ottoman Empire rule. More modest forms of this type of mausoleums implied the construction of the open for of canopy resting on four or more columns. Although such forms of grave memorials were erected on the territory of Belgrade, unfortunately, none was preserved. The developed, polygonal, most often hexagonal structure was usual for the Ottoman funerary architecture and served for the burial of Turkish famous and dignified persons.

The development of the Turkish architecture on the territory of Belgrade can best be observed on the area of Belgrade fortress. However, on the mentioned area, very rarely a uniqueness of one historical period can be observed, taking into consideration the massive destructions and reconstructions. The time period, which could be, with short breaks, determined as the Turkish period dates from the 1521. and 1867. There are not so many original structures of the Ottoman architecture on the Belgrade fortress, so that that period always relies and relates to the previous periods. First of all, it is about the utilitarian military architecture. One of the rare structures preserved in its original and authentic form is Damat Ali Paša`s turbeh, located in the Upper town of the Belgrade fortress. Along with the Šeik Mustafa`s turbeh at 5 Višnjićeva Street, this building represents the only remaining example of the Turkish funerary architecture in Belgrade. Damad Ali Paša`s turbeh represents the significant cultural and historical value as the material testimony of the historical development of the city of Belgrade and the architectural value as the rare and representative monument of the Ottoman architecture on the territory of Belgrade. It is located on the Belgrade fortress, which was declared the cultural property of great importance.

Research and Studies

Over the last one hundred years, several researches and studies have been published about the Damat Ali Paša`s turbeh. A former clerk of the Turkish embassy in Belgrade Теvdih Remzi managed to decrypt the text from the damaged memorial plaque above the portal of the turbeh and identified the structure as the burial place of Hadži Mustafa Paša, a Belgrade vizier, murdered in 1801. During his stay in Belgrade during the First World War, 1916–17, Remzi corrected this attitude, by decrypting more precisely the text from the above-mentioned plaque as:“ With the effort of Hadži Mustafa Paša, Šehid Ali Paša`s turbeh was repaired“, thus identifying the turbeh as the memorial to the eminent Turkish commander Damat Ali Paša. This identification denied the widespread belief that the turbeh was the burial place of Kara-Mustafa Paša, who, in 1683, after the defeat near Vienna, was murdered in Belgrade by the order of sultan Mehmed IV. During the research in 1936-37, and the restoration works on the turbeh, conducted by Меhmed Delić, on the burial site in the turbeh he found a broken scope with the inscription on it from 1818/19. The decrypted text from the scope proves that the structure was erected at the burial site of Damat Ali Paša, аnd renewed in 1818-1819. In the study dedicated to the Ottoman architecture in Belgrade Divan Đurić - Zamolo defines that the structure dates back to 1716-1717, and the architect I. Zdravković shared the same view. The largest and most detailed study so far has been published by dr Marko Popović in 1991, which proves that the turbeh was erected in 1784, as the memorial to Izzet Mehmed Pasha, аnd whose data served as the basis for this appendix.