The Mevlana Museum is the mausoleum of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the 13th-century Sufi poet and mystic whose verses are read all over the world today, and the mother house of the order of the whirling dervishes. It stands in the centre of Konya, beneath a conical dome of green tiles that has become the symbol of the city, and after Cappadocia it is the most visited place in Central Anatolia.
It is a museum and a shrine at the same time, where pilgrims at prayer share the space with visitors with cameras. Give it an hour and a little context, and it becomes one of the most serene visits of any trip to Türkiye.
A little history
Rumi was born in 1207 in Balkh, in present-day Afghanistan, and came to Konya with his family fleeing the Mongols, at a time when the city was the capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. He taught theology until 1244, when he met the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz, and that encounter made him a poet. He wrote the Masnavi, tens of thousands of verses in Persian, and died in 1273; Muslims, Christians and Jews came together at his funeral.
His son founded the Mevlevi order, which turned whirling, music and poetry into a path of prayer. The mausoleum was built over the rose garden the sultan had given the family, and it grew with centuries of donations. In 1925 the Republic closed the Sufi orders, and in 1927 the lodge reopened as a museum. Every December, on the anniversary of Rumi's death, Konya fills with visitors for Şeb-i Arus, the Night of Union.
What to see at the Mevlana Museum
The courtyard and the ablution fountain
A garden with rose bushes and the fountain, surrounded by the dervishes' cells and the kitchens. From here you see the green dome up close.
The mausoleum
You enter a long hall beneath the green dome, with the sarcophagi of Rumi, his father and members of his family, draped in embroidered cloths and crowned with turbans. Around them lie the sarcophagi of other masters of the order. Pilgrims pray standing up, and the silence is complete.
The manuscript hall and the sema hall
Copies of the Masnavi, illuminated Qurans, the order's instruments (the ney, or reed flute, and the kudüm drums), robes, felt hats and a display case with a small casket that, according to tradition, holds a hair from the Prophet's beard. The old sema hall, where the dervishes used to whirl, is now part of the museum.
The dervishes' cells
In the courtyard wing are the novices' cells, with figures recreating daily life: the master of the kitchen, the copyist, the musician. They give a good idea of the 1,001 days of training the order required.
The sema ceremony
The dervishes whirl at the Mevlana Cultural Centre, five minutes away, usually on Saturday evenings, and every day during the Şeb-i Arus festival in December (7–17 December). It is not a show but a prayer: you watch in silence and don't applaud. I cover it in detail in Konya and the whirling dervishes.
Tips for your visit
Allow an hour. The site is flat and accessible, and the mausoleum follows a one-way route.
- Cover your shoulders and knees; women also cover their hair inside the mausoleum.
- Shoes come off or are covered inside the mausoleum; follow the attendants at the entrance.
- You can take photos without flash, discreetly, and never of people at prayer.
- Early in the morning it is almost empty; at weekends and in December it is full of Turkish and Iranian pilgrims.
- Ten minutes' walk away are the Karatay Madrasa, with the finest Seljuk tiled dome in the country, and the Alaeddin Mosque on its hill.
Tickets and prices
Entry to the Mevlana Museum is free. At the time of writing (2026), the Karatay Madrasa costs €5 under the official 2027 tariff. On my tours there is nothing for you to arrange: your guide plans the visit so that, whenever possible, it coincides with the ceremony.
Where it is and how to get there
The museum is in the centre of Konya, at the end of Mevlana Avenue, next to the Selimiye Mosque, and ten minutes by tram from the high-speed train station. The high-speed train links Konya with Ankara in under two hours and with Istanbul in about four and a half. From Cappadocia it is about three hours by road, with a stop at the Sultanhanı caravanserai on the way.
How I include it on my tours
On Classic Türkiye it is the stop on the drive from Cappadocia to Pamukkale; on the Grand Tour of Türkiye we spend a night in Konya on the way from Antalya to Cappadocia, and when the dates allow, I plan the stop so you can attend the sema. For the background to Sufi mysticism, see my article on Turkish culture.
If you would like your time in Konya planned around the ceremony, let me know through the tailor-made trip planner.