Mevlana Museum (Shrine of Rumi)

Rumi died on December 17, 1273, and his followers buried him in Konya; the shrine built over him in 1274 became the core of a dervish lodge that grew into the organized Mevlevi order, whose sama ceremony, the whirling practice with reed flute and chant, spread from the Balkans to the Hejaz. The lodge's sixteenth-century structures include the Semahane where sema was performed, cells and kitchens. The tekkes were closed in 1925 under Ataturk, and the Konya lodge reopened in 1926 as a museum, renamed Mevlana Museum in 1954.

What makes this place unusual is that it never stopped being a destination of devotion: pilgrims still come to the green tomb, and the state's cultural ministry organizes the international Seb-i Arus commemorations each December marking Rumi's death (the 752nd ran December 7-17, 2025). The Mevlevi sama ceremony is inscribed by UNESCO among the masterpieces of intangible heritage. A state museum, an active shrine, and a symbol of Turkish cultural diplomacy at once.

Visiting

The museum's official page lists hours (daily 9am to 5:30pm, ticket office closes 4:30pm) and notes entry is currently free; the Seb-i Arus ceremonies in December are ticketed separately through the ministry.

Photo: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mevlana_Museum,_Konya_04.jpg), CC BY-SA 4.0, Murat Ozsoy.