Bülbülderesi Cemetery / Bülbülderesi Mezarlığı

Bülbülderesi or Selânikliler Cemetery

Although this cemetery that is located between Üsküdar and Bağlarbaşı is not an old one, it is important because of its special characteristics. In this cemetery, there are the graves of “Dönmeler (converts)” who converted to Islam from Judaism under the leadership of Sabbatai Zevi in Salonika in the seventeenth century. The history of those graves goes back to the nineteenth century. The graves that are found in the upper sections of cemetery have certain spatial, formal, and artistic features that cannot be seen in any other cemeteries in Istanbul. These graves made from high quality marble are adorned with some elements such as cut pillars, covered ash vases, open books etc. just as one can see in cemeteries in South Europe.