KONYA



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 was once one of the most important trading centers 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 center 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.

SITES OF INTEREST: Çamlıköy, Yakamanastır, Kale, Huğlu, Karaburun and Kızılören forest recreation areas, Meram vinyards, hot springs, İvriz stone relief, Beyşehir Castle, Akmanastır (monastry), Hagia Eleni Church, Sırçalı old theological school (medrese), Tacül Vezir old theological school (medrese) and Mausoleum, İnce Minareli Medrese, Ali Gav, Küçük Karatay, Karatay and İsmail Aka (Taş Medrese) old theological schools (medrese), Has Bey and Nasuh Bey Quran schools for children (darülhuffaz), Seydişehir school for teachers (muallimhane), İplikçi Mosque and school, Sadreddin Konevi Mosque and Mausoleum, Alaeddin Dursunoğlu, Selimiye, Kapı, Aziziye, Eşrefoğlu and Pir Hüseyin mosques, Sahip Ata, Karabaş Veli and Lala Mustafa Pasha mosque complexes, Akşehir and Ereğli Grand Mosques, Mevlana Mausoleum and Dervish Lodge, Nasreddin Hoca Mausoleum, the small mosques (mescit) - Taş Mescit, Sırçalı Mescit, Karatay, Tahir and Zühre, Altunkalem, Güdük Minare and Küçük Ayasofya mescits, Yusuf Ağa Library, Kubadabad Palace, Seyyid Mahmud Hayran and Şeyh Şahabeddin lodges, Kızılviran, Sultan, Zazadin, Horozlu, Kadın, İshaklı and Kuruçeşme inns, Rüstem Pasha inn (caravansary), Konya Archeology, Karatay Tile Works, Konya Stone and Wood Works, Konya Monument Graves, Atatürk's House and Culture, Konya Ethnography, Konya Mevlana, Koyunoğlu, Akşehir Stone Works, Akşehir, Atatürk and Ethnography, Ereğli Museums.

For more information click here (REPUBLIC OF TURKEY MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND TOURISM)