Showing 1-14 of 14 results
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Alaaddin Camii
The Mevlâna shrine aside, Alaaddin Camii is Konya's most important mosque. It bestrides Alaaddin Tepesi at the opposite end of Mevlâna Caddesi. The mosque of Alaeddin Keykubad I, Seljuk Sultan of Rum from 1219 to 1231, it is a great rambling building designed by a Damascene architect in Arab style and finished in 1221. Over the centuries it was embellished, refurbished, ruined and restored.
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Archaeological Museum
The small but interesting Archaeological Museum, beside the Sahib-i Ata Külliyesi, houses local Iron Age artefacts, Byzantine mosaics from Sille and Çorum, some bizarre lumpy Assyrian lamps, and several impressive, intact sarcophagi decorated with high-relief carvings. However, the unusually informative displays on Neolithic Çatalhöyük, 50km southeast of Konya are the top draw, combining a good explanation of the site with finds including necklaces, rings and a fragment of wall painting.
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Aziziye Camii
The Aziziye Camii (1875) in the bazaar was rebuilt in late-Ottoman style after a fire; it's the mosque with twin minarets bearing little sheltered balconies, and has a sign outside helpfully pointing out its interesting features.
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İplikçi Camii
The İplikçi Camii, perhaps Konya's oldest mosque (1202), was built for the Seljuk vizier Şemseddin Altun-Aba in unadorned style: a forest of columns, arches and vaults.
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Koyunoğlu Konya Evi
The recreated Koyunoğlu Konya Evi is a real highlight, showing how comfortably a well-heeled Konyalı family lived a century ago.
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Koyunoğlu Museum
The Koyunoğlu Museum, sharing the KonTV building 800m from Mevlâna Meydanı, is well worth visiting. Founded by a private (and clearly quite compulsive) collector, the displays take a scattergun approach, encompassing everything from fossils, minerals, weapons, stuffed birds, paintings of the sultans and photos of old Konya to kilims, bank notes and bath clogs. The few labels are in Turkish only.
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Mevlâna Museum
For Muslims and non-Muslims alike, the main reason to come to Konya is to visit the Mevlâna Museum, the former lodge of the whirling dervishes. On religious holidays the museum (really a shrine) may keep longer hours.
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Mevlâna Tomb
The Mevlâna Museum is visible from some distance, its fluted dome of turquoise tiles one of Turkey's most distinctive sights. After walking through a pretty courtyard with an ablutions fountain and several tombs, you remove your shoes and pass into the Mevlâna Tomb. Look out for the big bronze Nisan tası (April bowl) on the left as you enter.
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Museum of Wooden Artefacts & Stone Carving
On the western side of the Alaaddin Tepesi ring road is the İnce Minare Medresesi (Seminary of the Slender Minaret), now the Museum of Wooden Artefacts & Stone Carving. This religious school was built in 1264 for Sahip Ata, a powerful Seljuk vizier, who may have been trying to outdo the patron of the Karatay Medresesi, built only seven years earlier.
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Sahib-i Ata Külliyesi
The Sahib-i Ata Külliyesi was founded in 1285. Behind its requisite grand entrance with built-in minaret is the Sahib-i Ata Camii, originally constructed during the reign of Alaaddin Keykavus by the Seljuk soldier and statesman Hacı Ebubekirzade Hüseyinoğlu Sahib-i Ata Fahreddin Ali. Destroyed by fire in 1871, it was rebuilt in the same style. The mihrab is a fine example of Seljuk light-and-dark blue tile work. Alongside the mosque another grand gateway once led to a dervish lodge.
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Selimiye Camii
Across from the museum entrance is the Selimiye Camii, endowed by Sultan Selim II in 1567 when he was the governor of Konya.
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Şemsi Tebrizi Camii
The Şemsi Tebrizi Camii is an interesting mosque containing the elegant 14th-century tomb of Rumi's spiritual mentor. It is just northwest of Hükümet Meydanı, not far from Alaaddin Bulvarı.
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Tile Museum
Housed in what was once a Seljuk theological school near Alaaddin Tepesi, the Tile Museum was constructed in 1251-52 by Emir Celaleddin Karatay, a Seljuk general, vizier and statesman who is buried in one of the corner rooms. The museum houses an outstanding collection of ceramics, including interesting octagonal tiles from the ruined 13th-century Seljuk palace of Kubadabad by Beyşehir Gölü. At time of research, though, it was closed for major restoration work.
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Tombstone Museum
The small Tombstone Museum houses a collection of tombstones with finely carved inscriptions. The main entrance is grand but restrained compared with Konya's other great medreses . The eyvan on the western side of the courtyard was used for classes; it is decorated with gorgeous blue tiles and its arch has a band of particularly fine calligraphic tile work.
Showing 1-14 of 14 results
