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| 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.
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| Silvia shows us how "easy" felting is.... GS feels somewhat differently! |
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!
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| 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 rather more to see their loads of silks, carpets and spices.
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| Three views of Sultanhani, 1229 |
Fact File: Amazing Digs - Çatalhöyük. Not included in our tour, but not far from Konya, a British archaeologist discovered, in 1958, one of the
world’s oldest Neolithic human communities, Çatalhöyük.
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.
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