Museum sights in Konya
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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.
The extraordinarily elaborate doorway, with bands of Arabic inscription running all round it, is far more impressive than the small building behind it. The octagonal minaret in turquoise relief is over 600 years old and gave the seminary its popular name. If it looks a bit short, this is because the top was sliced off by lig…
reviewed
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B
Koyunoğlu Museum
This little-visited museum contains the legacy of Izzet Koyunoğlu. The railway inspector built up his esoteric collection of rare, er, collectables on his travels through Turkey. Our heart goes out to the tired-looking stuffed pelican, but there is a wonderful variety of exhibits, encompassing prehistoric bones, rhinoceros-horn rosaries, boxwood spoons bearing words of wisdom about food, 19th-century carriage clocks, and old photos of Konya and whirling dervishes. Ask the guards to unlock the recreated Koyunoğlu Konya Evi, which shows how a well-heeled Konyalı family lived a century ago. Izzet lived in the original building with US$3 million of art around him. The quick…
reviewed
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C
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.
reviewed
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D
Tile Museum
Housed in a former Seljuk theological school, this museum was closed for restoration when we visited. The building 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 is well worth a look if it reopens before your visit; the outstanding collection of ceramics includes interesting octagonal Seljuk tiles.
reviewed
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E
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.
Celaleddin Rumi, the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, produced one of the world's great mystic philosophers. His poetry and religious writings, mostly in Persian, the literary language of the day, are among the most beloved and respected in the Islamic world. Rumi later became known as Mevlâna (Our Guide) to his followers.
Rumi was born in 1207 in Balkh (Afghanistan). His family fled the impending Mongol invasion by moving to Mecca and then to the Sultanate of Rum, …
reviewed
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F
Tombstone Museum
Several other Seljuk monuments lurk in the narrow warren of streets to the south of Alaaddin Tepesi. Look for the pint-sized Kadı Mürsel Camii, then turn down the side of it, opposite the brown school building with the blue sign. After a few minutes you'll come to another Seljuk seminary, the Sırçalı Medrese (Glass Seminary), named after its tiled exterior. Sponsored by the Seljuk vizier Bedreddin Muhlis, the 13th-century building houses a small Tombstone Museum, with a collection of tombstones featuring finely carved inscriptions. The eyvan on the western side of the courtyard was used for classes; it is decorated with blue tiles and its arch has a band of particula…
reviewed
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Museum of Wooden Artefacts & Stone Carving
On the western side of Alaaddin Tepesi is the İnce Minare Medresesi (Seminary of the Slender Minaret), now the Museum of Wooden Artefacts & Stone Carving. It was built in 1264 for Seljuk vizier Sahip Ata, who may have been trying to outdo the patron of the contemporaneous Karatay Medresesi.
The extraordinarily elaborate doorway, with bands of Arabic inscription, is more impressive than the small building behind it. The octagonal minaret in turquoise relief is over 600 years old and gave the seminary its popular name. If it looks short, this is because the top was sliced off by lightning. Inside, many of the carvings feature motifs similar to those used in tiles and cerami…
reviewed
