Area: 38.183 km²

Population: 1.750.303 (1990)

Traffic Code: 42

Konya is one of the first inhabited cities in the history of mankind, and still contains traces of many ancient civilisations which gives it the atmosphere of a museum city. Because of its locations in the middle of the barren Anatolian steppe, it used to be one of the most important trading centres on the Silk Road. The fertile land around the city means Konya is also the heart of Turkey’s grain industry, with farming a major industry. Steeped in tradition, it is one of the most conservative and religious places in the country, and best known as the adopted home of Celaleddin Rumi, the Sufic mystic who founded the Whirling Dervish sect. Today it is still a centre of Sufic practice and teaching, and one of the highlights for visitors is the Mevlana Museum, the former lodge of the dervishes.

Districts: Konya (center), Ahırlı, Akören, Akşehir, Altınekin, Beyşehir, Bozkır, Cihanbeyli, Çeltik, Çumra, Derbent, Derebucak, Doğanhisar, Emirgazi, Ereğli, Güneysınır, Hadim, Halkapınar, Hüyük, Ilgın, Kadınhanı, Karapınar, Karatay, Kulu, Meram, Sarayönü, Selçuklu, Seydişehir, Taşkent, Tuzlukçu, Yazlıhöyük, Yunak.

 How to Get

By Road: Konya is well connected to all areas of the country, with a good bus network. The main bus station is 3km north of the city, and from there regular services include Istanbul (10 hours), Izmir (8 hours), Nevsehir (2½ hours), Ankara (3 hours) and Antalya (6 hours). There is a tram into the city, and many minibuses.

Bus Station Tel: (+90 - 0332) 265 0244. Fax: 265 0194.

By Rail: The train station is in the southwest of the city centre. There are direct trains to Istanbul (14 hours), Adana (8 hours), Afyon (6 hours), Gaziantep (13hours) and Isparta (1 hour). Tickets should be purchased in advance for long distance fast trains.

Railway Station Tel : (+ 90 - 0332) 322 3670

By Air: There are daily flights to and from Istanbul. There is a Turkish Airlines bus service to and from the city centre.

Airport Tel: (+ 90 - 0332) 345 0288

 Where to Visit

ANCIENT CITIES

Çatalhöyük: This ancient site, 50km south-east of Konya, is said to be the first settlement in the world with houses and sacred buildings dating back to 6800 BC. The remains were discovered by British archaeologists in 1958, and research shows 13 different strata with evidence of houses that had to be entered by holes in the roof as there were no streets. There is little left at the site, except the remains of mud brick houses, murals, plaster reliefs and pottery. Construction was from adobe, wood and reed, and most of the findings are now in the Konya Museum of Archaeology.

It is possible to get most of the way by minibus, then a taxi for the remaining 10 miles.

Clistra Antic City: The ancient city of Kilistra is 55km south-west of Konya, and was one of the first places that St Paul gave sermons. The area is famous for its archaeological carvings and buildings cut into the rock, the best examples of which are the Hadj Plank Chapel, Sumbul Church, Double Sirahane, and Great Water Cistern Chapel. The best way of getting to the area is by private transport, although there may be buses going part of the way from Konya.

Sille Aya - Elena Church: The tiny village of Sille, 8km northwest of Konya, has a long and interesting history. Helena, mother of Byzantine Emperor Constanine, stopped in Konya during her journey to Jerusalem for a Hajj pilgrimage in 327 AD, and after seeing the engraved temples here belonging to the first ages of Christianity, she too decided to construct a temple. The Sille Aya, or Elena Church, contains a rostrum and some fairly well preserved murals, which are unique works of art. It is thought that this church was in use until 1923. The village also has old stone bridges, other churches and the remains of frescoes. Sille is reached by bus number 64 from Konya.

MONUMENTS

Eflatunpınar: This holy Hittite monument is 22km from Beysehir and around 80km west of Konya. The monument represents the gods holding up the sky, and providing the link between the heavens and earth. It has well preserved embossed designs, engraved onto 14 rectangular stone blocks.

Fasıllar Monument: It is one of the biggest rock monuments of the earth. The Fasıllar Monument represents the God between two lions in a mountain temple.

Eflatunpınar Hittite Monument: The Eflatunpınar Hittite Monument takes place within the borders of Beyşehir District of Konya. The Monument consists of embossed designs on rectangular rocks near a spring. These embossed designs, which are still keeping their characteristics, had been engraved on 14 rock blocks.

İvriz Embossed Designs: These monuments takes place in the İvriz Village of Halkapınar District. They had been made by Hittites.

PALACES AND HANS

Kubad - Abad Palace: Lying southwest of Beysehir Lake, the palace was constructed between 1226 – 1236 and is the oldest example of the theological school of Turkish Palaces.

Zazadin Han: This was constructed in 1236 and lies 25km northwest of Konya, on the road to Aksaray.

Horozlu Han: This Han was made in two different sections; one for a summer resort and one as a winter house. It lies 44km west of Konya.

Obrukhan Han: Obruk is around 100km northeast of Konya, and the Han is built in typical Seljuk style.

RELIGIOUS MONUMENTS

Mevlana Medrese, Seljuk Pavilion, Sahip Ata Medrese, Sircali Medrese, Karatay Medrese, Ince Minaret and Medrese, Aziziye Mosque, Selimiye Mosque, Esrefoglu Mosque (Beysehir) are the most important medreses and mosques in Konya.

The mausoleums of Sultanlar, Emir Nureddin, Gomec Hatun, Hurrem Pasa, Murad Pasa Kizi, Sinan Pasa and Nasreddin Hoca are the most famous.

Alaettin Mosque: The ancient mosque dates back to 1219, and was constructed by the Seljuk Sultan of Rum. It lies on Alaettin Tepesi (hill) which has a few remains of a Seljuk palace, but it was the site of the original acropolis and most of its remains are now in the Ankara Museum.

The mosque itself has irregular and interesting architectural features, like columns of different sizes and a rambling design and decorations incorporated from different periods. Inside is a tomb chamber containing a dozen Seljuk sultans.

Openings hours: 08.30 – 18.00, non-Muslims should not enter during prayer times.

Religion Tourism

Mevlana Mausoleum and Dervish Convent (Center): The idea to construct such a structure was originated from the will of Sultan-ul Ulema Bahaeddin Veledin, father of Mevlana, when he wanted to be burried there after his death in 1230 and the structure turn out to take its shape as a single tomb was built upon his grave. After the death of Mevlana,a tomb was built there by Pervane Muiniddin and his wife Gürcü Hatun. The tomb has taken its current dervish convent structre as further religious and social architectural additions were carried out. Succeeding to the death of Mevlana that is from 1273 improvements as to the dervish convent building continued and it was converted into a museum after the Proclamation of the Republic. In the museum there are properties belonging to Mevlana and other dervishes as well as valuable samples of hand-painted kerchiefs,handwritings, ornaments, wooden works of art and instruments of the Mevlevi music, carpets and pileless carpets.

The msot appealing section of the tomb is the Kubbe-i Hadra (Green Vault) above the graves of Hz. Mevlana and his son Sultan Veledin. Inside of the structure built by Architect Bedreddin during Seljuk Period in 1396 is coated with green tiles. The inner walls of the tomb was embellished with plaster relief and designs. The sarcophagus of Hz. Mevlana is one of the superior samples of wooden crafts of the period.Yet this high sarcophagus is above that of his father Sultan-ul Ulema Bahaeddin Veledin's. On the north side of the tomb, there are Semahane( where Mevlevi dervishes perform the sema) and a small mosque constructed by Kanuni Sultan Süleyman in 16th century. Şeb-i Aruz Pool, on the other hand, is before the kitchen of the dervish convent. Within the frame of the annual commemoration ceremonies organized in the name of Mevlana, whirling dances of the Mevlevi dervishes( sema) around the pool are performed in certain days called as Şeb-i Aruz (Feast Day). Since the death of Hz. Mevlana was considered as a reunion with God, these days have been renamed as feast days. Most above all Hz. Mevlana is a great humanist, a perfect advocate of peace and a sage figure.

Alaaddin Mosque (Center): Konya is on Alaaddin Hill. The first Seljuk work of art dating back to 12th century, Alaaddin Mosque is not an organic whole since its plan has exposed to various changes in the course of time. On the magnificient pulpit of the first mosque made of ebony tree and dated 1155, there are epitaphs of Sultan Mesut and Kılıçaslan II and the names of Master Mengümberti on them.

Two different periods are observed in the mosque which is thought to have been constructed in accordance to the superiority of its pulpit as the most ancient Seljuk work of art.

Aziziye Mosque (Center): As the first construction built by Mustafa Paşa in 1676 was destructed by a big fire in 1867, this mosque that has remained till today was constructed through the contributions of Abdülaziz and his mother Pertevniyal Hatunun in 1872.

İnce Minareli Mosque and Theology School (Center): On the western slope of the Alaaddin Hill, the theology school(medresseh) was constructed by Seljuk Vizier Sahip Ata in 1260. Despite of the splendid view of the crown gate, it is a plain and unadorned structure.

Sublime stone masonry presenting the grandeur of the Seljuk architecture demonstrate the most praiseworthy art since the French gothic.

İplikçi Mosque and Theology School (Center): On the eastern side of the Alaaddin Hill, it is located on Alaaddin Road. According to the endowment of the medresseh, it is estimated that the first structure was constructed by the Vizier Şemseddin Altunbanın (Altıapa) during Kılıçaslan II. (through end the of XIIth Century). The mosque and medresseh( theology school) was extended and restored by Hacı Ebu Bekir in 1332.

Mihrab, ( nicheof a mosque indicating the direction of Mecca) encircled with two belts adorned with intermingling geometric motifs of tiles with the colors of turquoise and violet; and curled ornamentations( widely used by the Seljuks of Anatolia) made of turquoise and darkblue tiles, is among the most oldest examples of this kind in Anatolia.This edifice is of high esteem since Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi gave lectures in that place.

Sahip Ata Kulliye (Center): Recent reseraches have revealed the fact that Sahip Ata Cami instead stretched out to the facade with double minarets and was a wooden mosque perched on wooden piers. The in******ions stated that the construction of the building had been commenced by Seljuk Vizier Sahip Ata and that it was a masterpiece of architect Kölük Bin Abdullah. In this respect, it was the oldest Seljuks mosque to be known with its wooden piers . Completed in 1283, the tomb and the dervish convent later restored to its recent form as a külliye which is a complx of building adjacent to a mosque. Only the magnificient mihrap (niche of the mosque indicating the direction of Mecca) decorated with dazzling mosaic tiles remians to our present times.

Lala Mustafa Paşa Kulliye (Ilgın): Külliye is compsed of three sections as a mosque,imaret( kitchen) and an inn. The mosque constitutes a part of the külliye covering a wide section in the bazaar.

Built by Lala Mustafa Paşa in 1576, the külliye was in some sources said to have been one of the works of art of Mimar Sinan.

Eşrefoğlu Mosque (Beyşehir): On the eastern section of Beyşehir District,it is located at İçeri Quarter. It was constructed between the years 1296-1299 and the most authentic and the biggest wooden mosques in Anatolian region.

Sublime stone and wooden masonry, designs, adornments of mosaic tiles all together create a harmonious outcome with the latest and the most mature style of Seljuk art.

One of the most splendid samples of tiled minarets, the mihrab of the mosque completely adorned with turquoise, dark blue and violet mosaic tiles is of 6 meters height and 5.50 meters width. The structure reflects the flavour of Beylikler Devri (Eşrefoğlu Domain) with its rich stone masonry, glazed tiles on its interior space, fortifications and wooden decorations on the minber (hooded dais).

Nasreddin Hoca Tomb (Akşehir): On the eastern part of the ramparts of Akşehir province, the tomb is located at the cemetry named with the name of the city. The present appearance of the tomb was acquired by the Akşehir Head Official Şükrü Bey in 1905 as the structure has had difficulty in retaining its authentic view during series of maintances.Only the main tomb of the ancient structure has remained. On the head end of the sarcophagus of the master of humour, there is the date of his death written reversed as 386 symbolizing his jokes.

Sille Siyata Monastery (Center): Among the important centers of the early Christian period, this monastery is 8 km northwest from the center of Konya province. Among the various tombs engraved to rocks by monks, Akmanastır ,Haglos Kharitan (St. Choritan),leads among the others and one of the primary monastries in the world.

Akmanastır (Haglos Kharitan, Sille): It is located between Konya and Sille. Having been composed of buildings forming a circular structure around the engraved rooms, the monastery was constructed in 274 as a dedication to Saint Horion.

Haghia Eleni Church (Sille): Located at Sille Subdistrict and constructed in 327 during the reign of Emperor Konstantinus, it was the first Christian church to be constructed in Anatolian Region. The church is adorned with the figures of Jesus, Virgin Mary and the Apostles. On the interior door of the church, which has been restored and not been in service currently, there is a poem written in Greek language by Turkish expressions stating that the building was constructed in the name of Mikail Arhonkolan.

Lystra (Meram-Hatun Saray):

It is located at Zolkara which is in the west of Konya, at 1 km distance to Hatunsaray Town and 400 meters inside from the right side of the main road.

During the reign of the Roman Emperor Agust, Lystra joined the colonized cities of Nykaoline region (6 B.C). Later on it became an important center of episcopacy during Christian times. Though St. Paul had set out to Yalvaça(Antiocheia) from Tarsus, he decided to come to Lystraya and addressed his sermons there. In the very first year one of the ten apostles Artemus became a pishop in Lystra. Today traces of settlement have been witnessed at Lystra ruins.