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MEVLANA MUSEUM This
place has been used as a museum since 1926. Inside the courtyard after the
main portal, on both sides the cells of dervishes, kitchens and other
buildings are located. The pool on the right is symbolically the Night of
Union around which Sema dance performances took place each year on
December 17. The ante-room before entering into the main tomb
building was used as a place to read from the Koran by dervishes. Today
fine examples of famous calligraphy artists are on display. Inside
the building on the right hand side of the hall, which is roofed by three
domes, there are 55 graves belonging to Mevlana’s male relatives and
dignitaries. Right under the center of the green dome lies a sarcophagus
of blue marble made for Mevlana and his son Sultan Veled, made as a
present by Suleyman the Magnificent. The blue marble sarcophagus is
covered with a fine cloth with verses of the Koran embroidered in gold
thread, a gift of Sultan Abdulhamit II in 1894. The
semahane is the hall where the Sema dance ceremonies took place. The
lodges for men and women and partitions for musicians are also in this
section. There is a selection of the instruments used to accompany the
Sema dance-the ney, rebab, tef and tambur- and some of
Mevlana’s garments which have been preserved. The small mosque section which is entered through a small door, was built during the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent. Valuable samples of calligraphy, illuminated manuscripts and book bindings as well as fine examples of Turkish carpets are on display. There is one silk carpet in the collection with 144 knots per square centimeter (924 knots per square inch) which is considered to be the most expensive carpet in the world. |