The growing interest in Mevlana Muhammed Jelaluddin Rumi, the Sufi saint of Islam who advocated tolerance, reason and access to knowledge through love, continues to bring thousands to the Mevlana Museum, located in the central Anatolian city of Konya.

Recent figures show that his work and thought have gone beyond the borders of Turkey and that the number of people visiting the museum rose by 25 percent within the first nine months of this year over the same period last year.

Following the decision of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to mark 2007 as “World Mevlana Year” upon the 800th anniversary of the birth of the 13th-century poet of the Seljuk Empire, the Mevlana Museum has started to attract thousands of visitors from all around the world, and the number of tourists visiting the museum exceeded 1.25 million in the first nine months of this year. Vice Director of the Konya Mevlana Museum Naci Bakırcı indicated that the number of visitors flocking to the museum was some 1 million in the first nine months of the previous year and that this figure rose by 25 percent this year, adding: “Thousands of tourists come to visit the museum from all over the world, though the holiday period has come to an end. Russians, Americans and Iranians top the visitor list given the intense presentation process conducted in these countries to introduce Mevlana to those interested in masterpieces produced in a mystical relationship with Islam. The organizations that are introducing our whirling dervishes to several countries and the Mevlana Love, Tolerance and Culture Train that is visiting various provinces both inside and outside of the country contributed to the significant increase in the number of visitors.”

15.10.2007
Today’s Zaman Konya