Mevlâna Museum
Tomb of the poet Rumi beneath a turquoise fluted dome, in the former Mevlevi dervish lodge.
The Mevlâna Museum occupies the former lodge of the Mevlevi dervish order in central Konya, built around the tomb of the thirteenth-century poet and mystic Jalal ad-Din Rumi, known in Turkish as Mevlâna. The fluted, turquoise-tiled dome above his sarcophagus, the Kubbe-i Hadra, was raised in 1274 and has become the emblem of the city. Further halls, cells and fountains were added across the Seljuk and Ottoman centuries. After the dervish lodges were closed in 1925, the complex reopened as a museum the following year.
Beyond the tomb chamber, which holds the sarcophagi of Rumi, his father and other senior figures of the order, the museum displays illuminated manuscripts of the Masnavi, prayer rugs, calligraphy, and instruments used in the sema ceremony. The dervish cells around the courtyard have been furnished to show how the community lived, and a semahane, or ritual hall, adjoins the mausoleum. The garden contains ablution fountains and a cemetery of Mevlevi graves. The site remains both a leading museum and a place of pilgrimage.
Highlights
- Kubbe-i Hadra, the fluted turquoise-tiled dome above Rumi's tomb
- Sarcophagi of Rumi, his father and senior figures of the Mevlevi order
- Illuminated Masnavi manuscripts and instruments used in the sema
- Dervish cells furnished to show daily life in the former lodge
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