Mausoleum of Mevlana

One enters the mausoleum and the small mosque through the Tomb gate (Türbe Kapisi). Its two doors are decorated with Seljuk motifs and a Persian text from mollah Abdurrahman Cami dating from 1492. It leads into the small Tilavet Room (Tilavet Odası ) decorated with rare and precious Ottoman calligraphies in the sülüs, nesih, and talik styles. In this room the Koran was continuously recited and chanted before the mausoleum was turned into a museum.

One enters the mausoleum from the Tilavet Room through a silver door made, according to an inscription on the door, by the son of Sadrazam Sokullu Mehmed Pasha in 1599. On the left side stand six coffins in rows of three of the dervishes (Horasan erler) who accompanied Mevlâna and his family from Belkh. Opposite to them on a raised platform, covered by two domes, stand the cenotaphs belonging to the descendants of the Mevlâna family (wife and children) and some high-ranking members of the Mevlevi order.

The sarcophagus of Mevlâna is located under the green dome (Kibab'ulaktab). It is covered with brocade, embroidered in gold with verses from the Koran. This, and all other covers, were a gift of sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1894. The actual burial chamber is located below it. Next to Mevlâna's sarcophagus are several others, including the sarcophagi of his father Bahaeddin Veled and his son Sultan Veled. The wooden sarcophagus of Mevlâna dates from the 12th century now stands over the grave of his father. It is a masterpiece of Seljuk woodcarving. The silver lattice, separating the sarcophagi from the main section, was built by Ilyas in 1579.

The Ritual Hall (Semahane) was built under the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent at the same time as the adjoining small mosque. In this hall the dervishes used to perform the Sema, the ritual dance, on the rhythm of musical instruments such as, the kemence (a small violin with three strings), the keman (a larger violin), the halile (a small cymbal), the daire (a kind of tambourine), the kudüm (a drum), the rebab (a guitar) and the flute, played once by Mevlâna himself. All these instruments are on display in this room, together with an ancient Kirşehir praying rug (18th c.), dervish clothes (Mevlâna's included) and four crystal mosque lamps (16th c., Egyptian Mameluk period). In this room one can also see a rare Divan-i-Kebir (a collection of lyric poetry) from 1366 and two fine specimens of Masnavis (books of poems written by Mevlâna) from 1278 and 1371.

The adjoining small mosque (Masjid) is now used for the exhibition of a collection of old, illustrated korans and extremely valuable prayer rugs. There is also a box (Sakal-i Ṣerif), decorated with nacre, containing the Holy Beard of Muhammad.

The mausoleum was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 5000 lira banknotes of 1981-1994.