Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb: The Poet’s Resting Place in Karaman

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1. What is the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb?
2. How do you get to the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb?
3. When is the best time to visit the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb?
4. What is the history of the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb?
5. What is the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb famous for?
6. What can you see at the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb?
7. Frequently asked questions about the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb
8. What do the official records say about the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb?

What is the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb?

The Yunus Emre Mosque (Yunus Emre Camii) is a small Karamanid mosque in the Kirişçi quarter of Karaman, and attached to it is the tomb (türbe) that local tradition holds to be the grave of Yunus Emre, the best-loved poet of medieval Anatolia.

Yunus Emre lived from about 1238 to 1320. He wrote in the plain spoken Turkish of Anatolian villages rather than in Persian or Arabic, and his poems on divine love, death and human brotherhood are still sung as hymns (ilahi), set to music and learnt at school all over Türkiye. He is believed to have spent his last years in Karaman. Beside the mosque is a small park decorated with lines from his verse.

How do you get to the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb?

The mosque is in the city centre, a short walk from the Hatuniye Madrasa, Karaman Castle and the Aktekke Mosque. Karaman railway station, with high-speed trains from Konya, Ankara and Istanbul (Halkalı), is a short taxi ride away, and the nearest airport is Konya (KYA), roughly 120 km north. It is a working mosque: dress modestly, women should cover their hair, and avoid visiting during prayer times, especially Friday noon prayers.

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When is the best time to visit the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb?

Any day outside prayer times. The most atmospheric time is May, when Karaman holds its Turkish Language Festival, which the 2002 inventory describes as the Turkish Language Festival and commemoration of Yunus Emre; ceremonies and readings of his poetry take place in the city.

What is the history of the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb?

The mosque belongs to the Karamanid period, when Karaman was the capital of the beylik. It is built of cut stone around a central dome. Over the centuries many repairs spoiled its original character, and in 1994 it was restored to its original form.

The tomb is recorded in Ottoman sources. The Konya provincial yearbooks (salname) of 1872–1874, quoted by the provincial culture directorate, list Yunus Emre and Taptuk Emre among the notable figures buried in Karaman. Taptuk Emre was the Sufi master under whom, according to tradition, Yunus served for many years before he began to write.

Yunus Emre is one of several medieval figures with more than one grave. Places elsewhere in Anatolia, including Sarıköy in Eskişehir province, also hold tombs and traditions connected with him, and there is no documentary proof for any single site. Karaman’s claim rests on local tradition and the Ottoman records above.

What is the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb famous for?

• Yunus Emre. For many Turkish visitors the tomb is a place of pilgrimage, and the reason they come to Karaman.
• Karaman and the Turkish language. A poet who wrote in Turkish, buried in the city of the 1277 decree that made Turkish the language of the Karamanid state.
• A modest Karamanid mosque with a carved plaster mihrab.

What can you see at the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb?

The porch. The inventory describes four columns carrying an oval dome in the middle and round domes at the sides.

The prayer hall. The central dome is reached inside through half-domes in the four corners. The plaster mihrab has muqarnas and is decorated with geometric ornament, scrolling branches and naskh script.

The zikir room. To the right of the central dome is a rectangular space with two arched openings, used for Sufi remembrance (zikir), and from it you pass into the tomb.

The tomb. It is of cut stone with a vaulted roof and a low doorway under a single-piece stone arch facing west. Inside are four cenotaphs, which the inventory records as those of Yunus Emre, Taptuk Emre, Yunus Emre’s son İsmail and his daughter.

Nearby. The Aktekke (Mader-i Mevlana) Mosque, where Rumi’s mother is buried, the Hatuniye Madrasa and Karaman Castle are all close. In Konya, an hour away by train, the Mevlana Museum completes the picture of Anatolian Sufism.

Frequently asked questions about the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb

What do the official records say about the Yunus Emre Mosque and Tomb?

The mosque, from the Karamanid period, is a centrally domed building of cut stone in the Kirişçi quarter. On four columns in the porch there is an oval dome in the middle and round domes at the sides. The transition to the dome is made inside by half-domes in the four corners. The plaster mihrab with muqarnas is decorated with geometric ornament, scroll motifs and naskh script. To the right of the central dome is a rectangular dhikr space with two arched openings, and from here one passes into the tomb of Yunus Emre. The mosque, whose originality had been spoiled by many earlier repairs, was restored again in 1994 in keeping with the original.

The tomb, adjoining the Yunus Emre Mosque in the Kirişçi quarter of Karaman, is built of cut stone and roofed with a vault. Its door, under a monolithic stone arch facing west, is low. Inside are four sarcophagi. It is known that the sarcophagi belong to Yunus Emre, Taptuk Emre, Yunus Emre’s son İsmail and his daughter. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Karaman Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)