The Mevlevi Sama Khane of Cairo: the circular theatre of the dervishes behind a small door in al-Darb al-Ahmar

In Islamic Cairo, along Shari' al-Suyufiyya in the al-Darb al-Ahmar quarter, there is a small door that promises nothing. No monumental façade, no showy signs. Yet step through it and you enter one of the strangest and most beautiful interiors in the city: the Mevlevi Sama Khane, the ritual hall of the whirling dervishes, built above a fourteenth-century Mamluk madrasa. It is officially catalogued as the Madrasa of Amir Sunqur Sa'di and today functions as the Mevlevi Museum (Mawlawiyya Museum).

The Mamluk madrasa

The site is layered like an onion. The original structure is a madrasa with a ribat (a women's convent) and a mausoleum, built between 1315 and 1321 by the Mamluk amir Sunqur Sa'di, secretary of the army under sultan al-Nasir Muhammad. Sunqur was never buried there: he fell out of favour and fled to Tripoli in 1323, and it was the sheikh Hasan Sadaqa who ended up in the funerary chamber instead, hence the building's alternative name. It is worth looking at the stucco inscriptions of the mausoleum: they are drawn from the Maqamat of al-Hariri, secular literature, an unusual choice for an Islamic funerary monument.

The hall of the dervishes

The part that leaves you speechless comes later. In 1607 the complex was donated to the Sufi order of the Mevlevi (the "whirling dervishes", originally from the Turkey of Rumi) by an Ottoman Yemeni pasha, Yusuf Sinan. Above the madrasa's old courtyard, in 1810, the Mevlevi built the semahane: a large wooden hall in Ottoman baroque style, 15 metres by 15, with a circular dancing floor of 10.65 metres at its centre beneath a broad dome. It is here that the sama ceremony turned. A two-tiered gallery runs all around, and the dome is painted — the decoration dates from 1857 — with landscapes, gardens, birds and a circular Arabic inscription at its apex. The effect, from the centre of the floor, is of standing inside a life-sized music box. The dervishes remained here until 1945.

The restoration

The restoration is an Egyptian-Italian story. The excavations began in the 1970s with an Italian mission; the museum opened in July 1988, and further work between 2002 and 2007 brought to light the marble cenotaph of Sunqur, left unused at the centre of the chamber. The rooms of the old ribat now house the Italian-Egyptian Centre for Restoration and Archaeology. Above it all rises a 32-metre stone minaret, closely related to that of the tomb of Salar and Sangar al-Gawli.

Getting there

How to get there: the address is 31 Shari' al-Suyufiyya (al-Soufeya), al-Darb al-Ahmar, next to the Palace of Amir Taz. The landmark is the great Mosque of Sultan Hassan, on the square of the same name at the foot of the Citadel: from there you take the side street and walk a few minutes through the alleys. Do not confuse the site with the Mosque of Sultan Hassan itself, which is another monument. It is worth combining the visit with the nearby Palace of Amir Taz and with the monumental quarter of al-Darb al-Ahmar, rich in Mamluk mosques. Check the hours on site or with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, as they can change; the ticket is the one for the minor sites of Islamic antiquity. The best light for the painted dome is full daylight, so aim for the morning. The most reasonable months for walking in Islamic Cairo are the cool ones, from October to April: in summer the heat in the alleys is demanding.