Staff Report, "New accommodation planned for Mevlana’s VIP guests" - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, TurkeySaturday, April 12, 2008
Konya: Prominent guests visiting the Mevlana Museum will be hosted at a new venue planned for the central Anatolian city of Konya, home to the museum and the grave of 13th century Sufi saint Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi.
The offices of Konya's Karatay Municipality have been relocated, and the 7,000-square-meter plot and buildings the municipality formerly occupied, the Karatay Houses, have been handed over to the Mevlana Museum.
The Konya Provincial Culture Directorate and Mevlana Museum Directorate are planning to establish a cultural center on the site, which will feature deluxe accommodation in the form of the Çelebi Evi (house).
The Mevlana Museum, which draws more than 1.5 million visitors each year, currently has no facility for hosting VIP guests.
Museum Director Yusuf Benli said the area behind the museum building and the Karatay Houses will become part of the museum, adding that statesmen and distinguished foreign guests will be offered accommodation there.
Benli also emphasized the particular importance of such facilities during the Şeb-i Arus (Reunion with God) festivities, commemorating Mevlana's death, often attended by the president, prime minister, state ministers and other VIP guests. He added that the project also includes tourism-related activities.
Venues representing Turkish and Konya culture are also planned, including a typical "Konya house," to which entrance will be by appointment only, adding that this will also function as accommodation for tourists.
He added: "We will establish a familiarization center for Konya and its districts where we will make use of digital images and audio to depict many historical, cultural and natural beauties of the city.
"Visitors will simply have to visit some of these places after they see them there."
Also planned are a Konya Museum restoration and conservation laboratory, exhibition halls and a center where traditional Konya handicrafts will be displayed.
One of the region's most-visited sites, the Mevlana Museum hopes to spearhead efforts to reinvigorate local tourism.
[Picture: Britain's Prince Charles visiting the Mevlana Museum].
The offices of Konya's Karatay Municipality have been relocated, and the 7,000-square-meter plot and buildings the municipality formerly occupied, the Karatay Houses, have been handed over to the Mevlana Museum.
The Konya Provincial Culture Directorate and Mevlana Museum Directorate are planning to establish a cultural center on the site, which will feature deluxe accommodation in the form of the Çelebi Evi (house).
The Mevlana Museum, which draws more than 1.5 million visitors each year, currently has no facility for hosting VIP guests.
Museum Director Yusuf Benli said the area behind the museum building and the Karatay Houses will become part of the museum, adding that statesmen and distinguished foreign guests will be offered accommodation there.
Benli also emphasized the particular importance of such facilities during the Şeb-i Arus (Reunion with God) festivities, commemorating Mevlana's death, often attended by the president, prime minister, state ministers and other VIP guests. He added that the project also includes tourism-related activities.
Venues representing Turkish and Konya culture are also planned, including a typical "Konya house," to which entrance will be by appointment only, adding that this will also function as accommodation for tourists.
He added: "We will establish a familiarization center for Konya and its districts where we will make use of digital images and audio to depict many historical, cultural and natural beauties of the city.
"Visitors will simply have to visit some of these places after they see them there."
Also planned are a Konya Museum restoration and conservation laboratory, exhibition halls and a center where traditional Konya handicrafts will be displayed.
One of the region's most-visited sites, the Mevlana Museum hopes to spearhead efforts to reinvigorate local tourism.
[Picture: Britain's Prince Charles visiting the Mevlana Museum].
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