Felted Caps & Turbans

Konya

Mevlana Museum

Having survived a long day on the bus, we welcomed Konya despite it being a dry town (groan!).  The city is best known for its Seljuk connections, having once been the capital of the Sultanate of Rum (Rome) 1150 - 1300.  We at least had the morning to explore the Mevlana Museum, resting place  of the founder of the Whirling Dervish Sect, Celaleddin Rumi (d. 1273). 

The museum, also a shrine to Rumi, consists of the ceremonial hall, various tombs and graves, a lodge with rooms displaying activities of the order’s daily life and a mosque.  These magnificent buildings were added to over a period of time by Ottoman sultans and with other buildings in the area constitute a “museum” of Seljuk architecture – a mix of Persian, Byzantine & Turkish styles.  The turquoise tiling is quite beautiful.
 



Silvia shows us how "easy" felting is....

We were also lucky enough to have time to visit the Ikonium felting studio.  Felting is a traditional craft that has existed in Mevlana since Seljuk times.  The Sufi sect wears felt caps (sikke) and the workshop we visited belonged to the turban master.  He and his family have over generations, made the sikke we saw in the Museum.  His wife, artist Silvia Ines Garoselli (Rabia Girgic) gave us a demonstration of the finer art of felting.  She has branched out and is doing a more modern form of the art.  Needless to say, many of us left with a few packages under our arms – her work was stunning!
 

A sikke on the block

Once we had been rounded up and put back on that bus…we drove on across a vast grassy steppe, for our last destination, Goreme.  Not however, before taking a well-earned rest at the Sultanhani (1229), a huge, well preserved caravanserai, a camel staging post along a long-time established trade route.  With only a few tourists walking in the grounds of this delightful building, we were able to imagine how life was for travelling traders, although I think we would have preferred to see their loads of silks, carpets and spices.
 

 

 

 

Fact File: Amazing Digs.  In 1958, not far from Konya, a British archaeologist discovered the world’s oldest human community, Catalhoyuk .  Some 150 mud-brick houses, home to a community of about 10,000 people, have been excavated along with painted murals, shrines, figurines and various other artefacts dating from 6800 BC.  The site is generally not open to visitors (unless you have an official museum guide) and the finds are mostly housed in Ankara’s Museum of Anatolian Civilisations.  Konya was also central in the Hittite story.  Some 4000 years ago it was known to them as Kuwanna.  The Egyptians are said to have feared these fierce warriors.  A written Peace Treaty (1259 BC) between the two countries is on display in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.