Monuments of the city · Tomb

Şirvanlı İsmail Tomb

Also called “Yukarı Türbe”, the Upper Tomb. On the hilltop of the Şamlar neighbourhood. Whoever climbs up here sees Amasya's door onto the Caucasus.

1867 Şeyh İsmail Siraceddin Şamlar neighbourhood

1828: as the Russians close in on the Caucasus, a sheikh from Shirvan emigrates to Anatolia with his disciples and settles in Amasya.¹ That same year a son is born to him in Amasya.² Forty-five years later that son will become grand vizier of the Ottoman state, and will build this tomb for his father.^{1, 2, 3, 4}

The story of an exile that opens onto the highest office of a state.

📜 What do the documents say?

The man who lies in the tomb is Şeyh İsmail Siraceddin Şirvani. According to Ayşegül Şen, drawing on Turan Böcekçi, he was born in the Hijri year 1197 (1782/83) at Kürtemir, in the district of Şemahi.⁴ “Siraceddin” is an epithet given to him by Mevlânâ Hâlid-i Bağdâdî.⁴

First He becomes a follower of Mevlânâ Hâlid-i Bağdâdî — in Damascus according to Aydın,¹ in Baghdad according to Şen.⁴ For four years he takes lessons in learning and mystical knowledge, completes his spiritual training and receives his licence to teach.¹
1817 He returns to Shirvan and for three years carries on his work of spiritual guidance undisturbed.¹
1820 The Khanate of Shirvan comes to an end. The Russians occupy the region.¹
1826–27 Prison and Ahıska. As his disciples multiply rapidly, the Russians see him as a threat; he is imprisoned, and when one of his disciples pays his bail he is freed and goes to Ahıska.¹
1828 Amasya. When Ahıska too is occupied, he emigrates to Anatolia together with its people and settles in Amasya.¹
Later The Sivas years. After four years in Amasya he goes to Sivas and continues his guidance there for nine years.¹
1841 He comes back. He stays in Amasya for the rest of his life.¹
1848 His death. In a month of Ramadan he dies in an epidemic and is buried in the Şamlar Cemetery.^1, 4

Why were the Russians afraid of him?

Because this was not just a matter of a Sufi order. According to Şen, the mystical movement started by İsmail Şirvani soon spread across the whole of the Caucasus and later became the starting point of the Muridism movement, whose standard-bearer was Imam Sheikh Shamil.⁴ Tolga Aydın puts it more directly: Sheikh Shamil, nicknamed “the Eagle of the Caucasus”, was one of his deputies.¹

Aydın writes that the holy war against the Russians begun by Sheikh Mansur was carried on by the deputies Şirvani had trained; that this was called “the Muridism Movement”; and that it was led by Sheikh Shamil from 1834 to 1859.¹

In other words: this small tomb on a hilltop in Amasya is tied to one of the intellectual sources of the North Caucasus's twenty-five years of resistance. The Russians first imprisoned his disciples, then forced him to leave Shirvan.⁴

His son built the tomb

The man who built the tomb, Şirvanizade Mehmet Rüştü Paşa, was one of the Ottoman grand viziers.^1, 3, 4 The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi records that he was born in Amasya in 1828 and was the son of İsmâil Sirâceddin Şirvânî.²

According to the source our book relies on, the pasha built this tomb for his father in 1867, near the Şeyh İsmail Şiracuddin Şirvani Mosque, built in 1848 on the heights of the Şamlar neighbourhood.^3, 5 Şen also notes that the date AH 1283 / 1867 is written on the tomb's building inscription.⁴

The building: a square tomb; next to it is a small mosque, also square, and the tomb is entered from inside the mosque.⁴ Aydın adds that the west side of the building is the mosque and the east side the tomb; that it stands on a wide terrace surrounded by a masonry wall on sloping ground; and that there is a graveyard on its west side.¹

Who lies inside?

Şirvanlı Şeyh İsmail Siraceddin — the tomb's owner.⁴
Seyyid Ahmet Hulusi Efendi — his son; judge (kadı) of Istanbul.⁴
Hacı İsa Ruhi Efendi — his son-in-law.⁴

Here the sources diverge

Subject	What is said
Date of the tomb	1867 (AH 1283) — according to the building inscription⁴; our book gives this date too^3, 5. Aydın, however, says 1286 / 1869, and adds that its endowment deed was drawn up in 1290 / 1873¹.
Date of the mosque	According to Kalkan Açıkkapı, the mosque was built separately, in 1848⁵; Aydın, however, writes that Mehmed Rüşdü Paşa built both the mosque and the tomb in 1869¹.
His death	Şen (from Böcekçi): of the cholera epidemic that broke out in 1847 (AH 1264), in a month of Ramadan⁴. Aydın: 17 Ramadan 1264 (1848), of the taun (plague)¹.

On the year there is really no disagreement: both say AH 1264 and a month of Ramadan. AH 1264 began in December 1847; that year's Ramadan, however, fell in the summer of 1848. The 1847 in Şen's sentence is the year the epidemic broke out. The name of the disease, on the other hand, really is recorded differently: one says cholera, the other taun (plague).

🗣️ What do the people say?

This tomb is one of Amasya's busiest places of pilgrimage, and its visitors come from outside the city. According to Şen's interview with the imam of the mosque beside the tomb, those who come are mostly Azerbaijanis, and they come in groups, especially in summer.⁴

The interviewee explained that some visitors pay their visit and pray in a manner consistent with Sunni practice; while others enter the tomb crawling, or kissing the floor, some leave prayer beads on the cenotaphs and then rub the beads on themselves, and some childless women leave their underclothes on the cenotaphs and then take them back. The imam stated that he tries to stop these practices.⁴

Why Azerbaijanis? Because for them this tomb is a tie to the homeland: the man who lies here came from Shirvan, and Amasya's Azerbaijani community grew out of the migration that followed him. The city's Şirvanlı (Azeriler) Mosque is part of the same story.

Why does this section stand apart? The dates, the inscription and the information about the building above rest on documents. What is here is pilgrimage practice as it is lived today — observations recorded in the field in 2019.⁴ They are different kinds of information; this page does not mix them.

While you are there, look for

The entrance. You enter the tomb not directly but from inside the mosque.⁴ The building is divided in two: the mosque to the west, the tomb to the east.¹
The terrace and the view. It stands on a wide terrace surrounded by a masonry wall, on sloping ground.¹
The three cenotaphs. Father, son and son-in-law — three generations of one family side by side.⁴
The graveyard to the west. The cemetery beside the tomb is a trace of those who came with the migration.¹
And think about this: the child of a family that took refuge in Amasya in 1828 went on to govern this state in the second half of the 19th century.²

Key facts

Date: 1867 (AH 1283) — according to the building inscription^3, 4; Aydın says 1869¹
Commissioned by: Grand Vizier Şirvanizade Mehmet Rüştü Paşa — for his father^1, 3, 4
Who lies here: Şeyh İsmail Siraceddin Şirvani; his son, Seyyid Ahmet Hulusi Efendi, judge of Istanbul; his son-in-law, Hacı İsa Ruhi Efendi⁴
Born: AH 1197 (1782/83), Kürtemir, in the district of Şemahi⁴
Came to Amasya: 1828 — after the occupation of Ahıska¹
Died: Ramadan 1264 (summer 1848), in an epidemic^1, 4; according to Aydın, on 17 Ramadan¹
Other names: Yukarı Türbe · Şirvanlılar Türbesi^1, 3
Plan: Square tomb; beside it a small square mosque, through which the tomb is entered⁴
Location: 40.6611187, 35.8304618 — verified from an external source
In the book: Kültürel Miras Boyutuyla Amasya, p. 52

📍 Open on the map

Sources

Tolga Aydın, Amasya Tekkeleri (Yüksek Lisans Tezi, 2019), 77, 145. — p. 77: the four years of study in Damascus, the return in 1817, the end of the Khanate of Shirvan in 1820, Sheikh Shamil as his deputy, prison and Ahıska in 1826-27, the migration to Amasya in 1828, the Sivas years, his death on 17 Ramadan 1264 (1848), the Şamlar Cemetery and the building of the tomb by his son; p. 145: “Yukarı Türbe ve Mescidi (Şirvânî Tekkesi)” — the construction date 1286 (1869), the endowment deed of 1290 (1873), the arrangement of mosque to the west and tomb to the east, and the terrace.
“Şirvanizâde Mehmed Rüşdü Paşa”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (Erişim 24 Eylül 2026). — That he was born in Amasya in 1828 and was the son of İsmâil Sirâceddin Şirvânî.
Kültürel Miras Boyutuyla Amasya (Amasya: Amasya Üniversitesi, BAP Projesi SEB-BAP25-0233, 2026), 52.
Ayşegül Şen, Amasya Şehir Merkezindeki Dinî Ziyaret Yerleri (Yüksek Lisans Tezi, 2019), 46-47. — “3.3. Şeyh İsmail Siraceddin Şirvani Türbesi (Yukarı Türbe)”: the date AH 1283 (1867) on the building inscription, the plan and entrance, the three people buried in the tomb; from Turan Böcekçi, his birthplace and birth year, his joining Mevlânâ Hâlid-i Bağdâdî, the beginnings of Muridism, Russian pressure and his death; the interview with the imam of the mosque.
Duygu Kalkan Açıkkapı, The Transformation of the Built Environment in Amasya from the Late Ottoman Empire to the Early Turkish Republic (Ankara: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Doktora Tezi, 2019), 65. — The dates 1848 for the mosque and 1867 for the tomb, and the building of the tomb by the grand vizier for his father.

This page has no photograph. The book has no picture of this tomb. A current photograph will be added once it has been taken.