Guide
The Mevlâna Museum occupies the complex in Konya that was once the lodge of the Mevlevi order, and it has served as a museum since 1926. It is also known as the tomb of Mevlâna.
The Green Dome, the tomb itself, rests on four thick piers. Additions made at various dates after it was built enlarged the complex. Because a number of the Ottoman sultans belonged to the Mevlevi order, the tomb was treated with particular care and kept in good condition.
The museum and its garden covered 6,500 square metres; with the sections expropriated and laid out as the Rose Garden the area reached 18,000. The fountain in the garden was built by Selim I, and its central basin is said to have been a gift from the Germiyanid emirate.
In the collection of tales about Mevlâna set down by Ahmed Eflaki, there is an account that when the sultan of the day wished to build a tomb for Mevlâna's father, Mevlâna told him not to trouble himself, since he could build nothing more splendid than the dome of the sky. The tomb was built after Mevlâna's own death.
Among the valuable works held here are Mevlâna's coffin, the cover over his grave, the Mesnevi and the April bowl. The museum tells his life from birth to death, and the graves of Mevlâna and his family are here.
With 3,048,055 visitors, the Mevlâna Museum was the second most visited museum or archaeological site in Türkiye in 2024. By a presidential circular of 21 January 2023, that year was marked as the Year of Mevlâna, on the 750th anniversary of his death.
