Mevlana Museum
Tomb Of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi And The Former Lodge Of The Mevlevi Order, A State Museum Since 1926; On The UNESCO Tentative List · Konya, Konya
Under a fluted green dome that is the symbol of Konya lies Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, the thirteenth-century poet and mystic whose verse is still among the most widely read in the world and whose followers became the Mevlevi order, the whirling dervishes. The building was their lodge until the Republic closed the dervish orders in 1925; it reopened as a museum the following year and has been one ever since, which is the official position and not quite what is happening inside. Visitors queue past Rumi's sarcophagus with their hands raised in prayer, women cover their hair without being asked, and the atmosphere is a shrine's rather than a gallery's. Around the tomb are the semahane where the sema was performed, the dervish cells, illuminated manuscripts and instruments. In the second week of December the city fills for Seb-i Arus, the anniversary of his death, which the order calls his wedding night.
Aziziye Mahallesi, Mevlana Caddesi, Karatay, Konya, Konya, Turkiye
Open daily with longer summer hours; it has closed later than most Turkish museums and has at times opened on the day other museums shut. Entry has been free in recent years, which is unusual and worth confirming. Shoe covers are compulsory. The Seb-i Arus commemoration in the second week of December fills the city and the museum.