Biography

Tugrul is a PhD candidate in Harvard University’s joint program in the Middle Eastern Studies and History of Art and Architecture. His work focuses on Islamic art and architecture during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. His dissertation project titled, “The Shrine of Rumi and Earliest Mevlevi Buildings in Anatolia, (1273-1512)” will investigate the networks of patronage, pilgrimage practices to Sufi shrines, and their phenomenological dimensions. Tugrul holds a B.A. in history from Bogazici University, and an M.A. in art history from the University of Texas, Austin. Among his interests are Islamic aesthetic perceptions of marble and spolia materials and the sociocultural agency of Sufi complexes and madrasas in late medieval Anatolia and early Ottoman world.

Project Summary

Tugrul's research project is part of his ongoing dissertation, titled “The Shrine of Celaleddin Rumi and Earliest Mevlevi Lodges in Anatolia, ca. 1350-1512.” The dissertation examines the shrines and texts associated with the Mevlevi order, which followed the teachings of the Sufi poet and saint, Celaleddin Rumi (d. 1273) and are known as "Whirling Dervishes" in the Western world. It consists of five case studies and follows a chronological and thematic order. The dissertation aims to contextualize the changing patronage relations between the ruling elite and the Mevlevi order and to understand the veneration of enshrined Mevlevi saints by Muslims and Christians as a cross-religious practice. During his fellowship at Villa I Tatti, he will research early twentieth century Italian scholarly works that document archaeological expeditions in southwestern Anatolia from 1914 to 1922 during the Italian occupation of the region. Among these works are Roberto Paribeni’s L’Asia Minore e la regione di Adalia (1915) and Biagio Pace’s L’Italia e L’Asia Minore (1917), and Dalla Pianura di Adalia alla valle del Meandro (1927). These books provide photographic evidence for the physical state of the shrines at the time and textual evidence for their usage and functions. In addition, he will research historical photographs at the Biblioteca Berenson from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century documenting medieval Islamic architecture in Asia Minor including the collection of Bernard Berenson and Derek Hill.