Konya Mevlana Musezi, Turkey
After spending a few days in Cappadocia, we have finally reached the next place in our itinerary, Konya. Konya is located in the center region of Turkey and it is among the largest cities in the country. In addition to that, Konya is the seventh most populous city in Turkey and that explains why the traffic is pretty bad here.
Well, bad traffic is nothing to us, Jakarta dwellers because traffic jam has become our daily life living in Jakarta. Hahaha. Anyway, 30 minutes later, we have obtained the entry ticket to Mevlana Muzesi (re: Mevlana Museum), a must visit historical place in Konya.
We were not assigned any guide inside the museum and the place was pretty much packed with tourists. Thankfully, the map of the museum is available and there are English translation in every sign posted in the museum area. Hence, we were able to explore the place independently.
Mevlana Muzesi is the mausoleum of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, a Persian Sufi mystic also known as Mevlana or Rumi. The place also served as dervish lodge. For your information, a dervish is a member of a Muslim (especially Sufi) religious order who has taken vows of poverty and austerity.
You can go explore the relic displayed in each rooms in the museum. In front of every room, there will be a sign with the explanation of what kind of relic is displayed inside the room. For instance, the sign below gives explanation about the painting.
The painting depicts the map of Konya in the era where Mevlana is still alive.
You can also see the purpose of each room inside Mevlana Musezi. For instance, this room is called Music Room whereby the dervish are practicing/ playing their musical instrument. There are so many other rooms like this and each room is really interesting to explore.
Once you are satisfied exploring the museum, you can visit the souvenir store because there are a lot of interesting things to see there. Just like the genie lamp here. Now, which one house a real genie?
