Konya : The Mevlâna Museum (Το μουσείο των Ιπτάμενων Δερβίσηδων)

Info : At the very heart of Konya, in more ways than one, is the Mevlâna Müzesi ( Mevlana Museum ), the former tekke (dervish hall) that now holds the tomb of   Mevlâna Jelaleddin Rumî, founder of the Mevlevi order of dervishes, commonly called the Whirling Dervishes.    The Mevlâna Müzesi is a place of pilgrimage for Muslims because Rumî is a saint. His poetic message of peace, love of God and one's fellow creatures, resounds to a far wider audience today than it did over 700 years ago when Rumî preached and taught in Konya, and whirled in ecstasy through its streets. Muslim and non-Muslim pilgrims come from throughout the world to visit his tomb.   Thus, though it is legally a government-run museum, it is also a holy place. The museum is open daily from 09:00 am to 5:30 pm , for an admission fee of TL5. It's busiest in mid-morning and mid-afternoon, so the best time to visit is right when it opens in the morning, or at lunchtime. Plan to spend 30 or 45 minutes here.    Photography is allowed, but it's polite to be discreet and to limit or eschew the use of flash. 

  

HISTORY  

          

Sultan 'Ala' al-Din Kayqubad, the Seljuk sultan who had invited Mevlana to Konya, offered his rose garden as a fitting place to bury Baha' ud-Din Walad (or Bahaeddin Veled), the father of Mevlana, when he died in 1231. When Mevlana himself died on December 17, 1273, he was buried next to his father.    Mevlana's successor Hüsamettin Çelebi built a mausoleum (Kubbe-i-Hadra) over the grave of his master. The Seljuk construction, under architect Behrettin Tebrizli, was finished in 1274. Gürcü Hatun, the wife of the Seljuk Emir Suleyman Pervane, and Emir Alameddin Kayser funded the construction.

The cylindrical drum of the of the dome originally rested on four pillars. The conical dome is covered with turquoise faience. Several sections were added until 1854. Selim I decorated the interior and performed the woodcarving of the catafalques. A decree by Ataturk in September 1925 dissolved all Sufi brotherhoods in Turkey. On April 6, 1926, another decree ordered that the Mevlana mausoleum and dervish lodge be turned into a museum. The museum opened on March 2, 1927.  Special permission granted by the Turkish government in 1954 allowed the Mawlawi dervishes of Konya to perform their ritual dances for tourists for two weeks each year. Despite government opposition the order has continued to exist in Turkey as a religious body. The tomb of Rumi, although officially part of a museum, attracts a steady stream of pilgrims.