Hidden behind the Ottoman Fountain, Ypsipyli encounters a figure whose spirit dominated the old Ottoman Quarter and cloaked the Turkish Gialos in mystery from then until today. Nayazi Misri, a great poet and important representative of Islamic Sufism 1 , could also be the mirror image of Ypsipyli, since he followed the opposite course of the mythical queen: he was exiled to Lemnos for his values and teachings, and died here, far from his homeland.
Misri was exiled to Lemnos twice, from 1677 to 1692 and in the two-year period 1693-94. During the first period he lived as a prisoner in the Castle cells and then in the mosque of the harbour, which since 1931 has operated as a café, preserving some remnants of the original building. When Misri died in 1694, he was buried in the Ottoman cemetery near the mosque. Shortly afterwards, the Ottomans built a Türbe 2 , a four-sided stone building with Moorish-style windows and a metal railing on the roof, next to the mosque to honour him. Inside was Mishri’s stone sarcophagus, with a bronze ring at the top. Next to the Türbe, a Madrasah (school for Islamic theology) and a ritual space for the dervishes of the Saint Poet’s branch (octagonal building) were created. The Türbe was renovated in 1886 and again in 1911, and a well-kept surrounding area was created; however, after the ‘exchange of populations’, the land, the mosque and the octagonal building passed into the hands of the National Bank and the Ottoman ruins were demolished. The mausoleum of Nayazi Misri, after the railing of its roof was removed and tiles were installed, underwent many uses. It became a warehouse, a residence , a cookhouse for the Germans, a blacksmith’s shop. In1957 it was demolished. The three-storey building of the Agricultural Cooperative Union was built in its place. Today the neighbouring house of the tomb, which belongs to Nikolaos Polytaridis, and the octagonal building are preserved.
