edirne beylerbeyi camii haziresi'nde bulunan mezar taşları

Name of Thesis: The Gravestones in Edirne Beylerbeyi Mosque Vault
Prepared by: Emine BAŞ
ABSTRACT
We will complete our thesis by presenting the findings our researchon the steale in the
Edirne Beylerbeyi Mosque Vault has yielded to us. Out of almost 1,000 steale that the Vault
holds, we have chosen 223 as the subject matter of this thesis. The earliest stele among those
we have examined dates back to the 15 th century. Most of them descend from the 18th and
19th centuries. The number of those that date back to 17th century is while those that date back
to 18th century is 15. We have been unable to ascertain the date of some as they do not have
information as to the date of bir tor death of the deceased. Judging from the themesthat their
decoration suggest and from the caharacteristic of the motifs used in their decoration, we date
131 steale as belonging to the late 18th century and to 19th century.
Most of the steale in the Vault belonged to women. The number of those that belonged
to men is 22. The stelae we have ezamined are made of marble.
The steale we have studied divide into four groups: ‘şahideli’(simple upraight slabs),
‘pehleli’(Stone lids for Stone coffins), Stones taht we have ‘Edirnekari’ employed on
them(wooden ones with paintedor gilded embroidery on them), and symbolicalgarve Stones.
Most of the steale we have included inthis study have rectangular shapes and some of them
heve the shape of a prism. The steale also vary in terms of their shapes of their top parts and in
whether they have heads or not. There are 136 steale with pointed-arched tops,42 ateale with
gabled tops 6 steale with runded tops, and 10 steale with arched tops. The number of the steale
that have heads is 16.
122 of the steale we have examined have apitaps. Others have decorations. Essential
features that are found on the stele decorations in Edirne Beylerbeyi MosqueVault are floral
designs, geometrical shapes, objects inscriptions, either inviduallly or carved together.
Floral design include akantus, cypress, leaves, barnches and flowers. Geometrical
decoration includes the crescent moon and star symbols, and ‘the seal of Suleiman the
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