Turkey 25/2/2014

The Mevlana Museum
Konya, Turkey

Opening hours in the famous Mevlevi Museum

Arriving and a peek into the court yard at the Mevlana Museum,
one of Türkeys greatest and most revered attractions

The Mevlevi Museum seen towards north.

Brief history of the museum

The Mevlana Museum, located in Konya, Anatolia, Turkey, is the mausoleum of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, the Persian Sufi mystic also known as Mevlana or Rumi. It was also the dervish lodge (Tekke) of the Mevlevi order, known as the Whirling dervishes.

The Seljuk sultan, who had invited Mevlana to Konya, offered his rose garden as a fitting place to bury Baha ad-Din Walad, the father of Mevlana, when he died on 12. january 1231. When Mevlana died, on 17 December 1273 he was buried next to his father.

Mevlana's successor Celebi decided to build a mausoleum over the grave of his Master. The turquoise tiled dome was finished 1274.

Several sections were added over the centuries until 1854.

A decree of 6 April 1926 confirmed that the mausoleums and the dervish lodges were to be turned into a museum. The museum opened on 2 March 1927 and in 1954 it was given the name, "Mevlana Museum".

The turquise tiled tower covering Mevlana Rumi's grave.

Mevlana Rumis turquise tiled mausolaeum from 1274.

Path to the court yard. the monk (Mevlevias) cells are seen in the back.

The entrance to the Tilavet, the holy room where the Mevlevis dervishes chanted the Qur'an.

The North is the left side, east up, west down

Leaving the Mevlevi Museum, one of Türkeys greatest attractions on Aslani Kisla road

Burial ground opposite the Mevlana Museum.
Believers are resting along the Aslani Kisla road.
The head stones are facing the holy ground of the Mevlevis.

The life of the Mevlevi monks

The kitchen

The kitchen was used for educating the dervishers and amongst others
teaching them Sema, the whirling dance.

Table used for education of the Mevlevi monks and dining.

In the Mevlevis kitchen.
Sign reads: Pacarci, the dervish who was sent to bazaar for shopping.

Inside the monks cells

The monk cells are the 17 small enclosures in the bottom of the plan.

The 17 monk cells covered with small domes and the Selimiye Mosque.

Monk cells with informative boards at each entrance

Praying in solitude in a comfortable cell, the living quarters of the Mevlevi monks

Inside a monk cell with exhibition of musicians

Decorative lamp in one of the monk cells

Mausolaeums and tombs

The mausolaeum of Mevlana Rumi.

The sarcophagus is covered with brocade, embroidered in gold with verses from the Koran.
The actual burial chamber is located below underneath the floor.

The mausolaeum of the dervish Muhammed Shemseddin Tebrizi - also called Shems

Mevlana Rumi was teaching in the schools and mosques of Konya when he encountered the dervish Muhammed Shemseddin Tebrizi, who came to Konya in 1244. In a dream Shems was told, "I will make you a freind of one of the mystics with whom you can talk." The elevated state of the dervish made Mevlana seclude himself with Shems in the cell of Selahaddin Zerkubi for six months. There he "began to discover the dephts of knowledge of the consciousness of God. Here he undoubtly percieved the perfection of absolute existence."

Outdoor Mevlevi tombs