Gospel of the dervishes in Evpatoria

What to Expect and Is It Worth Visiting

Complex "Tekie dervishes" - this is another attraction along with the Karaite Kenas, which is worth a visit in Yevpatoria. The basis of the attraction is an ancient Muslim Monastery of the 18th century, where dervishes, Muslim monks, adherents of Sufism and an ascetic lifestyle lived and performed their traditional rituals. Although in fact, the dervishes could not be called fully monks, since they could live in their own homes, have wives and children. For tourists, dervishes are primarily known as "whirling monks". They perform a quick whirling dance during the Mevlevi ritual with the aim of achieving oneness with God.

It is believed that the structure of tekiye was built around the 11th century. The researchers draw such a conclusion on the basis of the architecture and shape of the building, since no mention of the temple was found in the documents. Well, the temple became a monastery of the mysterious Order of dervishes in the 18th century, and existed in this form for 300 years. In Soviet times, in the 1930s, Tekie was closed and for a long time was used as a warehouse of the Black Sea Fleet. This was not in vain, and the mosque in the complex was almost destroyed, although the rest of the buildings survived. A full restoration has not yet been carried out here, but it is planned that it will begin in 2017.

Today, the tekiye dervish complex is open to tourists as a historical and cultural attraction. On the territory there are the temple of the dervishes, the ruins of the Juma-Jami Mosque, the former building of the madrasa with the Museum of ethnography of the Crimean Tatars, the consecrated spring. All of them are visited within the framework of one ticket/excursion, nothing extra is paid. During the visit, the guides talk about the history of the dervishes and their teachings, and if you are lucky, you can see a unique show of dervishes, when the monks (or actors who impersonate them) spin in a ritual dance. True, the show does not always take place, and to get to it, it is better to specify in advance by phone when it takes place.

You can visit and explore the Dervish village with an excursion escort of 30 minutes, which begins several times a day according to the schedule. In addition to a simple excursion, a musical and theatrical performance (dervish show), a city tour+tekiye, a city tour+Little Jerusalem+tekiye, etc. are offered.