I visited Konya in Spring 2021 and used it as my base for 3 nights to visit the Catalhoyuk WHS and several other components of other tWHS.

Konya is a major city in central-southern Turkey and the 7th most populous city in the country. The Konya region has been inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC and was ruled by the Hittites, Phrygians, Persians, Greeks and Romans. Konya was known as Iconium during classical antiquity. In the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks conquered the area and began ruling over its Rum (Byzantine) inhabitants making Konya the capital of their new Sultanate of Rum. Under the Seljuks, the city reached the height of its wealth and influence. Following the demise of Rum, Konya came under the rule of the Karamanids, before being taken over by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. There are two components of the Seljuk madrasahs tWHS (Ince Minareli Madrasah and Karatay Madrasah) and one location of the Seljuk caravanserais (Zazadin Han) which are already worth a stop in Konya.

However, the highlight and core area of Konya as a tWHS in its own right is the mausoleum of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, a Persian Sufi mystic, still a pilgrimage site for many even though it is now known officially as the Mevlana Museum. It was also the dervish lodge of the Mevlevi order, better known as the whirling dervishes. It is right in the middle of the city and can't be missed with it's green dome. What I wasn't expecting though was it's highly ornate and impressive interior, especially the area with the Sarcophagus of Mevlana located under the green dome. The adjacent room is decorated with rare and precious Ottoman calligraphy in the sülüs, nesih, and talik styles, which reminded me of the old mosques of Edirne, and later on during my trip I was also able to compare them to the outstanding calligraphy of the Grand Mosque of Bursa.

Another highlight of Konya is the Alâeddin Mosque. Following typical Seljuk practice, a Christian basilica on the site was converted into a mosque following the capture of the city in 1080. Much of the building material and architectural ornament incorporated in later rebuilding, especially columns and capitals, was salvaged from this basilica and other nearby Byzantine structures. The building served as the "Mosque of the Throne" for the Seljuk Sultans of Rum and contains the dynastic mausoleum. The mausoleum portion of the mosque contains two tomb towers, one built by Kilij Arslan II with portions of remaining blue tile work on the mihrab and on the roof. The Seljuks of Rum incorporated the Ablaq technique, a distinct style also found in Syria. The courtyard of the Alâeddin Mosque encloses two monumental mausolea or türbe with conical roofs: one is decahedral and the other is octagonal; they contain mummified corpses on view.

I really loved Konya and hope to return whenever it will be inscribed on the WH list.