Sultan Mehmet VI’s tomb in Sulaymaniyya Takiyya in Damascus to be restored

Restoration works on Damascus’ Ottoman-era Sulaymaniyya Takiyya Complex which houses the tomb of the last Ottoman Sultan Mehmet VI, commonly known as Vahdettin, will resume as announced by the acting Charge d’Affaires Burhan Koroglu of the Turkish Embassy in Damascus on Monday. 

The Sulaymaniyya Takiyya complex, commissioned by Sultan Suleiman I (1494–1566), was designed and built by the renowned Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan. Sultan Mehmet VI, exiled in 1922 during his attempt to revive the caliphate, passed away in May 1926 in Sanremo, Italy.

His daughter Sabiha Sultan raised the money to have his father buried at the Sulaymaniyya Takiyya in Damascus. 

Restoration to begin again

Koroglu outlined that restoration had been initiated with donations of $16 million from Syrian foundations during the Assad regime but could not be completed due to the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

The project manager Ghassan Ghanem commented, “We started the restoration of this place three years ago. Foundations in Syria undertook the financing. But we didn’t get our money. We will make our applications to the new government. We will complete this restoration. We have already completed 85% of the project. This is a $16 million restoration project.”