- Esrefoglu Mosque:
Eşrefoğlu Mosque is the only wooden mosque where several decorative techniques of stone, brick, ceramics and painting were used together.
It is still a mystery how the wooden portions of the mosque, built in 1299, lasted until today without decay Eşrefoğlu Mosque, built in 1299 in the Beyşehir district of the central Anatolian province of Konya, is an architectural mystery.
How the wooden parts of the mosque survived until today without decay has baffled scientists. The seven-century-old mosque has a special place in Turkish architecture since it is the only wooden mosque where several decorative techniques of stone, brick, ceramics and painting were used together.
Built by Eşrefoğlu Süleyman Bay in 1297-1299, Eşrefoğlu Mosque is known as the biggest flat-ceiling mosque placed on wooden pillars, the Anatolia news agency reported. The historical building is still open to worship and is considered a “Turkish museum made of wood” thanks to its superior handicraft of wood and ceramics.
Eşrefoğlu Mosque, a unique example of Islamic architecture, is also noteworthy for its wooden pillars as well as ornaments and fresco paintings on the ceiling.
- Mevlana Museum:
Mevlana Museum, incredible, social complex is located on Konya. It is famous for Mevlana Mausoleum belonging to well known great dervish, poet and pioneer of the Islamic mysticism, Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi. Also, this magnificent structure includes many sections such as outdoors, Dervish Cells, Kitchen, Yard, Mosque, Library, Chant Room, Water-tank with a fountain, Semahane and Çerag Door.
At the beginning, this splendid complex was a rose garden surrogated a dervish lodge which was given as a present to Sultânül-Ulemâ Bâhaeddin, the father of Mevlana, by Sultan Aladdin Keykubat in the Seljuk Period.
Afterwards, there was added the mausoleum primarily including the graves of Mevlana’s father, Mevlana and his other family members here. Additionally, in 1926 the place was turned into a museum (today’s Mevlana Museum).
The brilliant and huge museum covers approximately 18.000 m2 area. Also, that miraculous mausoleum also called ‘’Kubbe-i Hadra’’ (Green Dome in English) was placed on four special pillars. Built by great architect Bedrettin Tebrizi, the tomb was furnished with the fascinating green tiles which is the main reason why it was named as ‘’Green’’.
Today, Mevlana Museum set place various parts which grabs the visitors with its mystic and fantastic atmosphere.
- Sultanhan Caravansarai:
In the middle of the flat, flat plain between Konya and Aksaray, at a lonely point on the ancient Silk Road, Seljuk Turkish Sultan Alaettin Keykubad I built a caravanserai, or caravan way-station between 1229 and 1236.
It was named, appropriately, the Sultan Han (hanmeaning caravanserai).
This truck-stop-for-camels was no doubt impressive, but it was in 1278 after a fire had damaged the original building that the great caravanserai took its present shape. It is the largest Seljuk caravanserai in Turkey, andwell worth a stop to see if you are traveling between Aksaray (or Cappadocia) and Konya.
In the last half-century, the little village that grew up around the Sultan Han has grown into a town(Sultanhanı) with basic services such as shops, fuel stations, restaurants, tea houses, etc.
The Sultan Han is a prime example of the Seljuk Turkish caravanserai with its lofty, elaborately-worked portalframed by utterly plain but massive walls; its stone-paved courtyard surrounded with rooms that served as treasury, refectory, hamam, repair shops and sleeping quarters.
The design, as always, is elegant in its simplicity. The Sultan Han has been repaired and restored numerous times in its eight centuries of existence, most recently within the past half century.
