The Mevlana Museum also known as the Green Mausoleum or Green Dome, is the original lodge of the Mevlevi Whirling Dervishes, a mystical Sufi Muslim group. It containes the tomb and shrine of the Mevlana, or Rumi, which remains an important place of pilgrimage.
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.
The tomb of Mevlana, revered by pilgrims.
What to See
The dervish lodge (tekke) includes a semahane, where the ritual sema or whirling ceremony takes place, a sadirvan for ritual ablutions, a library, living and teaching quarters, and the mausoleum housing the tomb of Celaleddin Rumi, founder of the sect and later awarded the honorable title of Mevlana. His epitaph reads: “Do not seek our tombs on this earth – our tombs are in the hearts of the enlightened.”
The mausoleum room is highly ornamented with Islamic script and enameled reliefs, and contains the tombs of several of the more important figures of the dervish order. The main tomb enclosed behind a silver gate crafted in 1597 is that of Mevlana. The tomb of his father, Bahaeddin Veled, is upright and adjacent to his son’s, a position that signifies respect.
The adjoining room, or the semihane, is now a museum of Mevlana memorabilia displaying musical instruments and robes belonging to Mevlana, along with Selçuk and Ottoman objects like gold-engraved Korans from the 13th century. Among the fabulous ancient prayer rugs is the most valuable silk carpet in the world.
Mevlâna Museum Konya-Turkey
Crowded from 11 AM, so try to come as early as possible. Take the audio guide if you're traveling alone.
We dropped by on a Sunday. Was very busy. I would suggest attending mid week.
This museum has some beautiful tile work and the dervishes resting place is quite interesting.
Wonderful museum (actually a shrine) but there are no english explanations. We did not have a guide so we rented an audio guide. Not the best but it did help. No photograpy inside the actual shrine, but one can take all the photos you want outside and in the part of the museum that is not the actual shrine itself….
Mosque was beautiful inside and open to non Muslims provided you were correctly dressed.
Museum interesting and had boards in English which was both unusual and useful.
Learnt so much and realised why it is a place of pilgrimage for many.
Gardens are well kept with lots of shady areas to sit and contemplate.
This museum used to be a mosque and as such is still considered a holy place. There are a lot of interesting exhibits, especially old hand written Korans. It receives over 1.5 million visitors a year but they have great procedures for the flow of people.
This place is no ordinary museum – it is a place of worship, meditation and spiritual revival. It is quite instructional to watch the action in the museum: thousands of believers coming to see the place, public prayers half-heartedly terminated by policemen on duty, people of all ages, from school children to retirees, lining up to pay their respect to…
I wasn't expecting much when we got here and I was pleasantly surprised.
My wife and I saw the Dervishes Whirl earlier in Cappadocia. (See Kapadoyka Balloon review if you're interested). That bit of background and some of our earlier tour book research really help to make this place "Pop" has an attraction.
The Mevlana Museum is all about the…
There are some really interesting representations of the 'whirling dervishes', and the museum is very informative about Mevlana their founder. Not to be missedif you are in the area
very interesting and some super islamic art on display. Story of mevlana, the whirling dervishes and sufiism fascinating