The Mevlana Museum in Konya holds the mausoleum for the Islamic teacher and mystic poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, also known as Rumi or Mevlana., who run a madrassa here while writing famous poems like the extensive Masnavi.

After his death in 1273 he was buried next to his father in the rose garden of the Seljuk sultan. A year later a green cylindrical mausoleum was built over the graves and over time the complex grew.

Rumi's son founded the Mevlivi Order of the Whirling Dervishes here, best know for the whirling Sufi dance, a mystic form of active meditation.

Rumi's poems remain very popular in large parts of the Islamic world and since the establishment of the museum in 1926 scores of admirers come here to pay homage to the man whose poems have survived almost 8 centuries.

Close to Konya in Sultanhani is the Sultan Han caravanserai from 1229, a fortified roadside inn along the important trade routes from Asia to Europe.

We visited Mevlana Museum and had a short stop at Sultan Han in August 1996.