Author: erkan

Turkey Konya Mevlana Museum – Chapter 5,

The kitchen is both the place where the dargah food was prepared and also a Chilehane (novitiate) where novice dervishes took their vows before entering the Mevlevi order and lived. According to custom, during the 1001 days of their novitiate, the novices worked in the kitchen. At the end of this period, a ceremony was held at which the novice was allocated a cell, and moved to live there. Today kitchen utensils used in the Mevlana Dargah are exhibited in the kitchen.

Chelebi Apartment (Library): Adjoining the south side of the tomb is a glass windowed room where the sheiks of the Dargah used to receive guests, called the Celebi Apartment. The window which looks onto the Tomb is called the Niyaz Window or Supplicant Window. Today the Chelebi Apartment is used as the Library of the Museum and contains 6 thousand printed and manuscript books. The museum also possesses three private libraries containing books donated by Abdulbaki Golpinarli, M. Ferid Ugur, and Mehmet Onder.

Hall of Honour (Director’s Office): Adjoining the kitchen is a large hall called the Hall of Honour (Meydan-i Serif) which today is used as the Director’s Office. This hall was formerly used for conversations between the sheik of the Dargah and the dervishes. In 1867 the ceiling of this room was decorated with designs and pictures in oil paint. Besides this, there is a single storied building on the north side of the courtyard near the Chelebi Gate called the Chelebi Guest House which was originally used as accommodation for visiting dervishes.

Fountain and Seb’i Arus Pool: In the courtyard of the museum is a fountain made of sky marble, which was built by Yavuz Sultan Selim in 1512. The fountain was repaired in 1595 by Sultan Mehmed III and in 1868 by Sultan Abdulaziz. In front of the Kitchen is a six-sided marble pool which is named ‘Celebration Night’ (Seb-i Arus) because the dervishes danced beside it on the anniversaries of Mevlana’s death.

You can continue to find more details fort he Konya Mevlana Museum in Chapter 6.

Konya Mevlana Museum – Chapter 4,

Semahane: The Semahane is to the north of the Green Dome. It was built during the reign of Sultan Suleyman the Law Giver (or Magnificent) in the XVI century at the same time as the adjoining Merced and is a domed hall. The Semahane is the place where the Mevlevi dervishes do their ceremonial dance called the Sema. It contains enclosed areas both below and above, for male and female visitors, a platform where poems in praise of Mohammad or asking his intercession (Naat) are read, and a special area for musicians called the My trip Recess. Today musical instruments, lecterns, candlesticks, lamps and Milana’s clothes are exhibited in the Semahane.
Mescid: The small mosque of the Dargah, the Merced, adjoins to the west side of the Semahane. The main gate to the Merced opens onto the Dargah courtyard. The Merced has a single balconies minaret and a marble sanctuary. In showcases in the Mescid are exhibited illuminated manuscripts, kilims, and carpets.
Dervish Cells: The Dervish Cells were built in 1584 by Sultan Murad III for the Mevlevi dervishes to live in. Each of the cells, Which is to the west side of the tomb have a small dome and a chimney. The courtyard side of the cells has been closed off with a glass corridor. Today the first two have been preserved in their original state, while the others are used as the “Carpet and Cloth Pavillion”, where Seljuk-Ottoman carpets and Ottoman period cloth is woven in Istanbul, Bursa and Bilecik are exhibited.
Mevlevi Kitchen: The Dargah Kitchen is south of the dervish cells. The kitchen was enlarged during the reign of Murad III and last repaired in 1867.

You can continue to find more details fort he Konya Mevlana Museum in Chapter 5.

Konya Mevlana Museum – Chapter 3,

The stalactite-filled dome in front of the sarcophagus of Mevlana is called the Post Dome. The oldest manuscripts of the Mesnevi (collection of poems by Mevlana), a gilded Divan-i Kebir (collection of lyric poetry), and the manuscript Divan of Sultan Veled are exhibited at the entrance to the tomb and in the cases in the center. The April Cup, which is a large bronze cauldron decorated with damascene figures and designs in gold and silver, is also exhibited here. The Imperial Sultan Abu Said Bahadir Han (1305-1335) had the April Cup made in Mosul and presented it to the north of Mevlana in 1333. One the right-hand side of the room is a silver lattice separating the sarcophagus of Mevlana from the Huzur-i Pir, called the Silver Cage. The Maras Governor, Mahmud Pasha had the lattice built by the decorator Ilyas in 1579. On it is a silver plaque on which is inscribed a 32 distich poem in Turkish by the poet Mani. Under the lattice is a silver threshold with two steps. South of the Silver Cage right under the Green Dome is the marble sarcophagi of Mevlana and his son Sultan Veled. The sarcophagi are covered with gold-embroidered covers presented by Sultan Abdulhamid II in 1894.
The wooden sarcophagus which was constructed for Mevlana at the time the tomb was built is a masterpiece of Seljuk craftsmanship. Today this sarcophagus is over the grave of Mevlana’s father Sultan’ul-Ulema. On the west side of the Green Dome are the graves of Mevlana’s wife and children, sheiks of the Mevlana Dargah, and descendants of Mevlana, and to the east, there are more graves belonging to members of Mevlana’s family, totaling 65 sarcophagi in all. All the sarcophagi are covered with richly embroidered clothes.

You can continue to find more details fort he Konya Mevlana Museum in Chapter 4.

Konya Mevlana Museum – Chapter 2,

On the west side of the Kulliye of the Mevlana Tomb and Dargah are the Dervish Cells, and on the other three sides are walls. On the western side, the main Dervishes Gate leads into the Mevlana Museum and Tomb. The gate to the south called “Bab-i, Hamusan” leads to the Garden of Souls (Hadikat’ul-ervah) which was once a graveyard, and the door to the north near the Celebi Apartments is called the Celebi Gate.
Entrance: The Main Gate leads into a marble courtyard with fountains for ablutions before entering the mosque. The Tomb Gate is also on this side, its two doors being decorated with Seljuk motifs.
Tilavet Room (Calligraphy Section): The Tomb gate leads into a small domed room, where the dervishes used to read the Koran. This room has now been arranged as the Calligraphy Section and examples of work by famous calligraphers of the Ottoman period in the sulus, nesih, and talk styles are exhibited. A silver door in the Tilavet Room leads to the Tomb. An inscription on the door says that it was made by the son of Sadrazam Sokullu Mehmed Pasha in 1599.
Tomb (Huzur-i Pir): The silver door leads to the Tomb chamber which is called “Huzur-i Pir”. To the right and on the opposite side of this three domed chamber is a fairly high dais on which are sarcophagi. The two dais to the right, each covered by two domes, and the Green Dome over the tomb of Mevlana is called the Kibab’ulaktab, which means the Poles Domes. The six tombs in rows of three which are on the dais under the arches which divide the Semahane or dance hall from the Mescid are called the “Horasan Soldiers.”

You can continue to find more details fort he Konya Mevlana Museum in Chapter 3.

Konya Mevlana Museum – Chapter 1,

The Konya Mevlana Dargah (dervish retreat) in Konya, where the tomb of the great Turkish thinker and mystic philosopher Mevlana Celaleddin is situated, was turned into a museum in 1927 and contains Objects pertaining to Mevlana and the Mevlevi order. The Mevlana Tomb and Dargah are of Seljuk and Ottoman construction. Mevlevi writings say that the site of the Tomb and Dargah was originally the private garden of the sultan in Seljuk times and later presented to Mevlana’s father Sultanul Ulema by Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I. Sultanul Ulema who died 42 years before Mevlana was buried in this garden. When Mevlana died on December 17, 1273, his body was brought here and buried beside his father, and construction of a tomb begun. The architect Tebrizli Bedreddin built the tomb with the financial help of the wife of the Seljuk Emir Suleyman Pervane, Gurcu Hatun, Emir Alameddin Kayser and Mevlana’s son Sultan Veled. It was completed in 1274. It is thought that this first building was of cylindrical shape standing on four pillars with a conical dome. In 1396 and again during the time of the Ottoman Sultan Beyazit II repairs and additions were made and the interior decorated with painted designs.

Today the Tomb rests on arches supported by four pillars and is 25 m. in height. From the outside the body of the tomb is cylindrical in shape with 16 sections, ending at the top with stone cornices, above which is a 16 sectioned conical spire. The whole tomb including the spire is covered with turquoise colored tiles which were replaced from time to time. For this reason, it was called the Green Dome. On the side of the Dome in dark blue Sulus script are inscribed the Besmele and Ayet-ul-Kursi, and on the top of the spire is a gold moon and star symbol.

You can continue to find more details fort he Konya Mevlana Museum in Chapter 2.