The mausoleum, of Hazrat Maulana Jalaal ud deen Ruumi (Rahmatul Laahi is located in Konya, Turkey.It was also the dervish lodge (tekke) of the Mevlevi order.
Sultaan 'Ala' al-Din Kayqubad, the Seljuk sultaan who had invited Maulâna to Konya, offered his rose garden as a fitting place to bury Bahaa' ud-Den Walad (also written as Bahaa ud deen Valed), the father of Maulâna, when he died on 12 January 1231. When Maulâna died on 17 December 1273 he was buried next to his father.
His successor Hüsamettin Çelebi decided to build a mausoleum over his grave of his master. The Seljuk construction, under architect Behrettin Tebrizli, was finished in 1274. Gürcü Hatun, the wife of the Seljuk Emir Suleyman Pervane, and Emir Alameddin Kayser funded the construction. The cylindrical drum of the dome originally rested on four pillars. The conical dome is covered with turquoise faience.
However several sections were added until 1854. Selimoğlu Abdülvahit decorated the interior and performed the woodcarving of the catafalques.
The decree of 6 April 1926 confirmed that the mausoleum and the dervish lodge (Dargaah) were to be turned into a museum. The museum opened on 2 March 1927. In 1954 it was renamed as "Maulâna Museum".
One enters the museum through the main gate to the marble-paved courtyard. The (washing fountain) in the middle of the courtyard was built by Yavuz Sultan Selim.
One enters the mausoleum and the small mosque through the Tomb gate.Its two doors are decorated with Seljuk motifs and a Persian text from Abdurrahman Cami dating from 1492. It leads into the small Tilaawat Room decorated with rare and precious Ottoman calligraphy in the different styles. In this room the Quraan was continuously recited and chanted before the mausoleum was turned into a museum.
One enters the mausoleum from the Tilaawat Room through a silver door made, according to an inscription on the door, by the son of Mehmed III in 1599. On the left side stand six coffins in rows of three of the dervishes who accompanied Maulâana and his family from Balkh. Opposite to them on a raised platform, covered by two domes, stand the cenotaphs belonging to the descendants of the Maulâna family (wife and children) and some high-ranking members of the Mevlevi order.
The coffin of Maulâna is located under the green dome.It is covered with brocade, embroidered in gold with verses from the Quraan. This, and all other covers, were a gift of sultaan Abdul Hamid II in 1894. The actual burial chamber is located below it. Next to Maulâna's sarcophagus are several others, including the sarcophagi of his father Bahaeddin Veled and his son Sultan Veled. The wooden sarcophagus of Maulâna 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 was built under the reign of Sülaimaan the Magnificent at the same time as the adjoining small mosque. All the display in this room, together with an ancient Kirşehir praying rug (18th century), dervish clothes (Maulâna's included) and four crystal[citation needed] mosque lamps (16th century, Egyptian Mameluk period). In this room one can also see a rare Diwaan-i-Kebir (a collection of lyric poetry) from 1366 and two fine specimens of Masnavi (books of poems written by Maulâna) from 1278 and 1371.
Source-Wikipedia
