The Mevlana Museum is the single most important place in Konya and one of the most spiritually charged in all of Turkey. Beneath its green-tiled conical tower lies the tomb of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207–1273) — Mevlana, "our master" — the Persian-language poet and Sufi teacher whose followers founded the Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes. The complex was the order's chief lodge for six centuries, until Atatürk banned the Sufi orders in 1925; it has been a museum since 1927, although for the millions of pilgrims who arrive each year it functions, in practice, as a working shrine.
You enter through a marble courtyard ringed by the small fountains where the dervishes performed their ablutions, then pass into the semahane — the hall where the sema, the whirling ritual, was performed. The hall is now filled with display cases of dervish robes, illuminated Qurans, musical instruments, and the personal effects of the order's masters. The main shrine room beyond holds Rumi's tomb, draped in heavy embroidered cloth and surrounded by the tombs of his family and senior disciples. The silence in the room is unusual; many visitors pray quietly at the railing.
Modest dress and head coverings (for women) are required; both are available free at the entrance. Photographs are permitted in some rooms but not in the shrine itself. Allow 90 minutes to two hours. The museum is closed Mondays.