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The city is located 3 km on the south of Gazipasa, about 45 km away from Alanya. The city is on a skirt of hill extending to the sea in an elbow shape. The acropolis of the city is found on the hill. There is a cradle vaulted, two-roomed bath iat the point where Selinus (Haci Musa) meets the sea. The columns of Agora on the sea side have been lost, but stylobat traces can still be seen. Further east from Agora, a building with apsis can be seen. It is extremely likely that the building was established in a religious temple. There is a monumental structure on the east of the church. The entrance door, being the only Islamic structure of the city, is surrounded with zigzag motives of Lescuklu which are presented in a colourful manner. These must have been the ruins of a mansion. There is a tomb structure present in the cemetery, which is nekropol of the city. This shows that the custom of burial in the best possible way was also used here. Some parts of the water canals of the region still survive to this day. The Roman Emperor Traianus died in the city; his ashes were buried in Rome. The ruins date back from Roman, Byzantine and Middle Ages.





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It is located within the borders of Guneykoy, 18 km away from the Gazipasa district. It falls into the borders of the region, known as Mountainous Kilikya in Ancient Times. The name of the town comes from Antiochust 4, the King of Kommagene. The ruins are collected on three hills. In the first one, is the region consisting of the agora, bath, victory line and church. The second part is the nekropol area with tomb structures unique to the Kilikya region. The third part is the ruins of the castle built on the sharp rocky area extending to the sea on the west. On the north of the city, there is ruin of a temple whose architectural components are still seen. There is a building which had religious functions in the apsis of three walls called trikonkhos. The ruins are dated from Roman, Byzantine and Middle Age.

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This site which was known as Caesarea or Anazarbus during the times of the Roman Empire, is 28 km to the south of the Kozan District of the Adana province. The small village built just outside the antique city walls is Dilekkaya.

We have practically no knowledge of the history of the city before the Roman Empire era. It was named Caesarea by Emperor Augustus who visited the city in 19 B.C. and it started to be known as "Caesarea near Anazarbus". Anavarza did not show any significant presence during the first two centuries of the Roman Empire period and was shadowed by Tarsus, the capital of the Cilicia state. Tarsus managed to survive to the present times but lost the majority of its historical monuments. The city Isos, which the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus entered with Pescennius Niger and sided with Severus during the power struggle, was rewarded when the Emperor won his battle in 192 A.D. and became the sole ruler of the empire, started to enjoy its days of glory. In the period 204-205 AD Cilicia became the metropolis of the Isaura and Licaonia states. In 206 AD Anavarza, like other Cilician cities, was captured by the Sasani King Shapur. Anavarza which was destroyed by Balbinos of Isaura in the 4th century A.D became capital of Cilicia Secunda (Cilicia of the Plain) which was established during the reign of Theodosius II. The city was badly hit with an earthquake in 525, but was later restored by the Emperor Justinianus, and renamed Justiniopolis. In 561 it experienced a second earthquake disaster and in the 6th century was hit with a major plague epidemic.


During the chaotic centuries which followed the rise of the Islam, Anazarbus remained as a buffer zone between the Arabs and the Byzantines and frequently changed hands between the two sides. In 796, Harun el Reşid re-built the city and Caliph Mutacvakil (846-861) rebuilt the Sis castle and carried out active work at Anazarbus. His name is mentioned in an inscription piece in Kufi language found at the ruins of tower located outside the west gate. In the 10th century, when Aynı Zarba was once more on the brink of ruin, Hamdanid al-Dawla turned it into a fortified settlement by spending the tremendous sum of three million dirham. The city then became the focus of interest of the Byzantines again and during the 964 campaign which ended in victory, Nicephorus Phocas took over Anazarbus along with several important fortifications including Tarsus and Mopsuhestia. In the 11th century, the Armenians whose capital was conquered by Alpaslan were driven towards the southwest under the pressure of theSeljuk Turks and established a kingdom in the Taurus region. Later on, they slowly progressed towards the Cilician plain, and there chose Anazarbus as their capital until the year 1100. Except for a gap of 7 years, when the Byzantines again gained control under the rule of John Commeneus between 1137-1144, the city remained as a capital for almost for a whole century. In 1184 Tarsus, and then Sis, became the capital. Despite the fact that Anazarbus remained as an important fortification, the city which was built lower down, on the flat plan eventually started to be destroyed. It was finally totally ruined when the Memlüks destroyed the Little Armenian Kingdom in 1375, and this antique settlement has never been used again since.


The ruins in Anavarza consist of a 1500 metre long city wall with 20 bastions, four entrances, a colonnaded street, and the ruins of a bath house and a church. Important works also include the theatre and the stadium outside the city walls, aqueducts, rock tombs, the necropolises in the western side of the city, the antique road which was constructed by splitting the rock mass and the pooled mosaics which are conserved in situ (the mosaic of the sea goddess Thetas from the 3rd century AD), the victory arc with three entrances, which is the only example of its kind in the Adana region and the castle from the middle ages on the hill which rises like an island in the centre of the plain.


About fifty metres to the north-east of the stadium, the rock is separated with a man-made fissure. The Moslems of the region consider this as the crack cut by Hz. Ali and tell a legend about how the son-in-law of the Prophet pulled out his sword and made a crack in the rocks for himself and his horse when he was being pursued by the enemy. Leaving this legend aside, the fissure seems to be opened to allow for the road which went from Anazarbus to Flaviopolis (Kadirli) and Hieropolis (Kastabala during the Byzantine Period). The passage is 250 metres long and its width changes between 4-15 metres. On both sides of the road, the rock faces reach up to 50 metres. For a traveller emerging into the sunshine towards the east from the deep shadows of the passage, to see one of the inscriptions on the face of the high rocks would no doubt will be a rather sentimental experience.


"Hence, we shall not be afraid, Should the earth move and should the Mountains be moved to the middle of the sea. Should the waters rise and roar and should the mountains tremble with the rising waters"


The colonnaded street running North-South, starts with this three-spanned arch. Anavarza has witnessed numerous earthquakes (including the severe earthquake of 1945) but the Victory Arch managed to remain standing, at least partially, up to our time. It is a three-arched passage with six Corinthian column capitals from black granite on its south façade. There are statue niches on both sides of the main arch on the northern façade.

The amphitheatre, which was also the scene of performances with wild animals was a structure built completely with stones. It was apparently systematically looted (as was the case for many buildings) during the antique age to provide material for other buildings. Today, we have a sufficient amount of architraves, friezes, cornish blocks, column bodies, inscriptions and even Corinthian column capitals, which were used everywhere that give an idea about the splendour of the Anazarbus of the Antique ages.


The castle can be defined in three sections. The barracks section including the first wall and a church; a three storey tower built on the flat rock between the two walls; the second wall and an adjacent complex of rooms it, storage areas and water tanks it encloses.






























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Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age / 2 Million - 10000 B.C.)
Paleolithic Age, also known to be the old stone age, began somewhere around 2 million years ago, and ended 10,000 years before our time. This time period marked the beginning of the existence of the ancestors of man.The early man in the Paleolithic age did not know how to farm and raise crops, but instead, lived on picking up vegetables, fruit and on hunting. In search of new food sources, and to be able to hunt animals, man moved from place to place, and gathered in small groups. His dwelling was in rocky areas, under big rocks and in caves. In areas where this condition could not be met, he made easy and primitive shelters out of wood. Around 40,000 BC he started making simple stone tools for hunting and protection purposes. Between 40,000 and 10,000 was the glacial age on the Earth. Unable to move around much due to the climate, the primitive man utilized the skin of the animals that he hunted via the use of successfully carved stones. To make clothes he used pins made out of the bones of hunted animals and sewed the animal skin covers himself. During these hard times of survival, the discovery of fire was made, and along with this, came the ability to control it. With this discovery, man happened to have passed an important step in his development which helped him to be separated from animals. In this same period, the earliest notion of the need to believe in an other world or in a mightier power can also be traced: Food was left in the simple graves that were dug up for the deceased, and this is interpreted to be man's faith in afterlife. To sum up, the hard conditions of life in the glacial age led the early man develop better socially and technically. The passage from the very primitive man, namely Homo Neanderthal, to the ancestor of the modern man, namely Homo Sapiens, who is dated back to between 10,000 and 8,000, may also be considered in this period.In the last phases of the Paleolithic age, the early man could make tools in order to make other tools. The first works of art emerged in this era too: paintings made on cave the walls and various art objects such as low reliefs and figurines.The intellectual life of the man was beginning. Moreover, animal bones, teeth, shells and other ornate objects demonstrate the first aesthetic concern in man.
The fact that Asia Minor is extremely rich in fossils, fragments of human beings and animals, stones, bones and vegetation, as well as of works of art, all of which remained from the Paleolithic age, reveals that Anatolian land was intensely inhabited during this period. The most important place in Anatolia where all the three phases; Upper, Middle and Lower in the Paleolithic Age can be seen, is the Karain Cave on the 30 km northwest of Antalya. In this respectively big cave, there are various living sections from each of the three phases of the Paleolithic Age. Among the finds are many carved stones and bone tools, moveable art objects, the remains of the bones and the teeth of the Homo Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens, as well as burnt and unburned animal and bread fossils. The Karain cave in the Paleolithic Age is not a crucial excavation site only for Anatolia but also for the Near East.
Mesolithic Age (Middle Stone Age / 10000 - 8500 B.C.)
This period gives way to the most impressive development of the human kind, the New Stone Age. The Middle Stone Age is a period of transition of the human from the Old Stone Age to the New Stone Age. Hunting and collecting of plants continued to be the main supply of food, however humans began to store the food in storages for later consumption. Domestication of Animals is the main development of this period. At this time, the dog began to be seen as a domestic animal. From the wall paintings, we understand that the artistic qualifications of this period were almost equal to the preceeding Old Stone Age, and that perhaps a lsmall level of development was achieved. In this time period, the human had probably been busier with the invention of new things, that had made their lives easier.
Neolithic Age (8000 - 5500 B.C.)
This period reveals a new step in the history of mankind with the development of the established and settled societies, and in production of food. Anatolia, once again, gives the most comprehensive sites in the world for this age in the Çayönü, Hacılar, Çatalhöyük and Köşkhöyük excavation sites.
The Çayönü settlement, which is not far from the city of Diyarbakır, has been unearthed by the expedition teams under the leadership of Cambel, Braidwood, Mehmet Özdoğan, Wulf Schirmen, and it is dated back to 7250 - 6750 B.C. In the middle of the settlement is a center, and around it are monumental, rectangular structures and houses. The foundation of the structures are of stone, and over this are sun-dried bricks. The inhabitants of Cayonu are the first farmers of Anatolia. They raised sheep and goat, and the domesticated dog. Female figurines, which are the earliest traces of the Mother Goddess cult, were discovered here.
The Hacılar Settlement, brought to daylight by James Mellart, located 25 km southwest of Burdur, is dated back to 5700-5600 B.C. The walls and the floors of the Hacilar houses, which are made of mud-brick on top of stone foundations, are lime mortared and red-painted. Wooden poles used for supporting flat roofs and ladders were found at these sites. This suggests that some structures had two stories. In every house, there are Goddess figurines made of clay, in both standing and sitting postures. Different from other settlement areas, the dead are buried outside the cities. The pottery in Hacilar is well fired and comes in red, brown and yellow colors.
The Çatalhöyük settlement, 52 km southeast of Konya, and north of the town of Çumra is, dated back to 6800-5000 B.C. and it is the most developed center of the Near East and the Aegean. The excavations have shown that the city with ten different settlement levels was built according to a designed plan. This was achieved by arranging the rectangular planned houses next to one another around the courtyards. There are no stone foundations in Çatalhöyük and all of the houses carry flat roofs. Houses were made up of mud brick, and they were all built in accordance with the same ground plan. They have no doors. Instead, the entrance to these houses are through windows on the ceilings via portable ladders. The windows for air and light are placed on the topmost part of the walls near the roofs. The houses are composed of wide living rooms, storage rooms and kitchens. In the rooms, there are seats and furnaces. The dead are buried under the seats in the houses, after having been dried in the sun.The walls of the houses are decorated with bull heads and paintings. These paintings, which signify the rituality in the community, were placed in a corner in the houses, rather than in a special separate location within the settlement area. Bull heads are formed in high reliefs, like statues, and some of them are made by the covering of original bullheads with clay. In the formation of the wall paintings, red, brown, black, white and pink dyes on top of the gray mud brick are used. Among the motifs used are geometrical designs, flowers, stars, circles, and in some parts, depictions of life as well as human hands, deities, human figures, hunting scenes, bulls, birds, vultures, leopards, wild deer and pigs, lions and bears. A depiction of the eruption of a volcanic mountain ( very likely, the Mount Hasan, near Cappadocia) is the oldest known scenery painting.
In Çatalhöyük, we can also trace the early stages of farming. This is also accompanied with the worship of the Mother Goddess along with the holy animal, the bull. The Mother Goddess stands for fertility and multiplication of man. In the excavations that are carried in Hacılar and Çatalhöyük, hundreds of Mother Goddess statutes have been found. She, with her sexual organs in exaggeration, is almost always depicted nude and lies down in the postures of crouching, and especially in the process of birth-giving . The fact that similarly designed Mother Goddess statues could also be found in the Near Eastern and Aegean cultures signifies the existence of matriarchal societies in these regions in the same time periods. The Goddess Kybele comes into sight around the 7000 B. C. ( Most of the finds from this period are on display in Ankara Museum of Anatolian Civilizations).
As for Köşkhöyük, during the excavations carried by Ugur Silistre in Köşkhöyük, near Niğde, ornate pottery pieces and statues have been discovered.
Chalcholithic Age (Copper Age / 5000 - 3000 B.C.)
In this period, in addition to stone tools, copper pieces also come into sight. The need to change valuable goods (ceramics, textile) for both raw and shaped mines helped trade to develop. This brought about the exchange between people as well as the preparation of inventory listings with the beginning of communication. Symbols, hieroglyphs and writings with pictures came into use. By the end of the 4000 BC, cities emerged and the first steps of the human civilization were made.
Burdur-Hacılar level 5 (5500 B.C.) is the oldest site in Anatolia where metal objects are discovered. Regarding technique and forms; the handmade pottery production reached to an advanced level here, and the single-colored, polished, ceramic pots were produced as an alternative to the metallic pots which were respectively more valuable. The surface of the pots were finely polished with a special technique to create a metallic effect.
One other important settlement area of the Chalcholithic period in Western Anatolia is the Beycesultan site, going back to 4000-3000 B.C., located 5 km southeast of town of Çivril in Denizli, which was excavated by Seton Lloyd. Here, some of the mud-brick structures with a rectangular plan look like long megaron houses. (Megaron is a long and narrow room that has a hearth in the center). Inside the structures are hearths, seats along the walls and spaces for storage. Here, inside a pot, a collection of silver and copper rings was discovered, which was a part of a dagger and metallic pins. The ceramic of this period had a background of gray, black and brown.
The Canhasan site, 13 km northeast of Karaman, in Konya, unearthed by David French was a bridge between West and East Anatolia, and Mesopotamia for trade and cultural exchange. Copper rings and bracelets are among the most important finds here. Anatolia, which had the most advanced culture on earth during the Paleolithic period had lost its leadership in the Chalcolithic period to Mesopotamia and Egypt, after writing was discovered there. Due to the fact that writing only began to be used in Anatolia a thousands years later, the level of culture here could not go beyond that of Neolithic period primitive village, even though people were using metal in daily life.
Bronze Age (3000 - 1200 B.C.)
The Bronze age began around 3000 B.C. in Anatolia, around 2500 B.C. in the Aegean and Crete, and around 2000 B.C. in Europe. Bronze is obtained by mixing copper and tin (% 90 copper, % 10 tin). In this period, apart from bronze tools other materials such as copper, gold and electron, which is an alloy of natural gold and silver, were also produced for use in religious ceremonies. The people in this period lived in cities surrounded by fortification walls. Houses were built in rectangular shapes on stone foundations with sundried brick walls. Agriculture, animal husbandry, merchandise and mine production were the means of life.
Alacahöyük, 67 km to Yozgat and 3 hours away from Ankara was the most advanced settlement area in Anatolia in this period. The rich graves discovered here are in shapes of regular, stone rooms. The deceased were put in the center of these rooms along with gifts, in a posture were the knees were pulled up to the belly (hocker position). Animals were sacrificed and presented during the ceremony. Bull heads and feet were left on top of the roofs. Goats and sheep were also sacrificed. They might have been served to the attendants at the funeral. The graves are thought to have been used for many generations. Most of the gifts are composed of gold, silver, electron, bronze objects and decorative items such as diadems, necklaces, hairpins, bracelets, earrings made of precious stones like amber, rock crystals and other similar objects. Bronze and gold weapons, sun discs, deer and bull figurines, Goddess statues of religious services are invaluable works of art discovered here. Bronze spear heads were used for the first time, in Anatolia. They resemble very much their counterparts in Mesopotamia and Syria, which is an interesting point.
Another important place in the bronze age is Troy, Level 1. Dated back to 2900-2500 B.C., this city, the first in Troy, now partly unearthed, is surrounded by a 90 meter wall. Houses are in megaron type once again, and the entrances are from the narrow sides. Walls are of stone and set in the herring bone pattern. Level 2., Troy, is dated back to 2500-2000 B.C. It is built on top of Troy Level 1. The inhabitants of this level come from the Aegean and Balkans, like those of the first level. It is also surrounded with walls but this time they are 20 meters longer. The expedition team discovered a royal residence that belongs to a king on one of the hilltops. Heinrich Schlieman, the German businessman who dug the Trojan mound in 1870, discovered a treasury at this level of Troy 2. Knowing Homer's Iliad by heart, he was in search of King Priamos's treasury, and for years he believed that the treasury he had discovered at the site was the very thing he was searching for. In the last years of his life, however, he was to discover that the treasury actually belonged to a different level, the level 2, thus, to a different time period.
The Anatolian Civilizations From 1200 B.C. To Present
There were major changes in Anatolia in the wake of the Aegean migrations, which took place at the end of he second millennium. This event brought about the fall of the Hittite Empire, and during the first half of the 1st millennium B.C., late Hittites, Urartians and Phrygians, who had established kingdoms in different areas of Anatolia, took control of this area. At the same period, the Greeks arrived in Western Anatolia, via islands, as a result of the disruptions caused by the Dorian Migrations. After settling in Western Anatolia, they unified with local people and established the foundations of the Ionian civilizations. In this way the first colony settlements were founded. This period is characterized by motifs drawn by compasses and is called the "Protogeometric Age" (1100 - 950 B.C.). It is then followed by the "Geometric Age", represented with the alteration of round shaped motifs into angular ones.
Art, which had been always important in Ionia, had witnessed major developments, in terms of both architectural and sculptural characteristics, under oriental influences. The foundations of giant temples were established in this period. The anatomical characteristics of the human body were worked out more realistically on the sculptural work in comparison with the ones from protogeometric or geometric ages. Big marble statues were first made in 670 BC. and the painted pottery of the Eastern Greeks, which were decorated with animal friezes, continued to be produced under the vigorous influences of Anatolia.
The big sized pieces of art produced during the Archaic period, a continuation of the orientalised style, also establishes the characteristics of this style to a certain extent. The statues and the Ionian architecture of the Western Anatolian culture of this period established the infrastructure of "The Classical Age" of the Western Aegean.
There were Carian and Lycian civilizations in the southwestern Anatolia during 700 - 300 B.C. The rock tombs of these civilizations are the most distinguished traces which were left by them in this region of Anatolia. However, the control of central Anatolia was under the Lycian Kingdom with the center of the Kingdom located at Sardis. By extending their boundary up to Kızılırmak, they took over the control of the Phrygians and, thanks to the good relations with Ionian city-states, they also included Ephesus into their territory and became the most powerful state in the region. They minted the first metal coin in the seventh century B.C., and re-proved their importance. After wards, Lydia was vanquished by the Persian Empire in 546 B.C. The civilizations in western Anatolia intermingled with Greek and Persian civilizations resulting in the creation of a Greco-Persian style. This situation was ended with the invasion of Anatolia by Alexander the Great, which resulted in a new period called "Helenistic Age" started (330 - 30 B.C.). After the death of Alexander the Great, as a result of the internal struggles between his generals, this powerful kingdom was shared between them, and most of Anatolia entered the rule of King of Pergamon. Western Anatolia entered the rule of Romans.
Anatolia, which became a part of the Roman Empire by means of a will, was Romanized by peace rather than war, and continued to preserve its own traditional cultural characteristics. These regional characteristics were dominant even in the most powerful periods of the Roman Empire. When the Roman Empire split into two, the old Greek city "Byzantion" became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (330 B.C.) and received the name of "Constantinopolis" in honor of the name of the Emperor. Byzantine art is a mixture Roman art, which came into being in Anatolia with dominant regional characteristics, with the characteristics of Christianity. The Byzantium civilization had a life of thousands of years over the span of time between the 4th and 15th centuries.
The Oğuz Turks, who had been living at the west of Transoxiana, accepted the Moslem religion in the 10th century and in order to spread it, started raids to Byzantine territory. The Malazgirt Battle, which took place in 1071, opened the doors of Anatolia to Turks. The Seljuk Turks, who arrived in İznik and accepted it as their capital, turned to Anatolia to a province of the Great Seljuk State. After the collapse of the Great Seljuk State, the Anatolian Seljuk State was established and the capital was moved to Konya.
The Anatolian Seljuk State came to an end as a result of the Mongol invasions, and Anatolia entered the rule of İlkanid Turks. For a period of time, it was governed by different Turkish rulers, then living in different regions in Anatolia. On the arrival of the Kayı Tribe of Oğuz Turks in Anatolia, the Seljuks' Sultan showed the Söğüt area near Byzantine territory as a place for them to settle. Thus the foundations of an Empire, which would continue for 600 years was established. Expanding their borders, the descendants of Osman captured Bursa and made it the capital. After some time, they captured the Byzantine lands on Thrace and moved their capital to Edirne. In 1453 İstanbul became the capital, and became a culture and art city. Ottoman art is a synthesis of the Turkish-Islamic art and Anatolian culture.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire became very weak and was thus occupied from four sides. In 1919, the Independence War started, and in 1923, the Turkish Republic was declared.













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The Ottoman Empire was founded in 1299, and lasted 664 years until its collapse in1923. At the peak of its military success, the great Ottoman Empire spanned three continents, stretching from Budapest to Azerbaijan and taking in Persia, Syria and the whole of the north African coast. It began, however, from relatively humble beginnings with Osman Bey, the leader of a small principality in northwest Anatolia, who gave the Empire its Turkish name, Osmanh (with Osman). His first military conquests began in 1299 with the conquest of Bilecik, Yenikent, Inegol and Iznik. He resolved to take Bursa, and after a siege, which lasted some eight years, his son, Orhan, finally took the city in 1326 and, in 1335, made the city his capital. His son, Suleyman, conquered Thrace in 1353, and it was his successor, Murad Hudavendigar, who continued the expansion by taking the Balkans into the Empire.

In 1362 Murad, captured the city of Edirne, formerly known as Adrianople, and established it as his capital in the following year. In 1453, Fatih Sultan Mehmet (Mehmet the Conqueror) conquered Istanbul, thus bringing an end to the Byzantine era. In 1516-17 both Syria and Egypt fell to the Ottoman army, and with them the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, making the Ottoman sultan the most important figure in the Sunni Muslim world. 1520-66 was the golden age of the Ottoman Empire, under the rule of Suleyman the Magnificent, but from then onwards, began a slow decline, which caused the Ottomans to lose itheir economic and military superiority over Europe.

Despite efforts at reform during the 19th century, a number of nationalist movements broke out in Ottoman territories and the Empire began to fragment. Its fate was sealed when it entered the First World War on the side of Germany. Following the end of the war, the victorious allies shared the Ottoman lands and Britain, Italy, France and Greece began to invade its territories. The Ottoman parliament was dissolved on the 16th of March 1920. The Turkish Grand National Assembly, with Mustafa Kemal as its President, began the Independence War, and in the process of establishing itself, decided on November the 1st 1922 to abolish the sultanate. The last Ottoman Sultan, Mehmet VI (Vahideddin), left Istanbul in secret on the 17th of November 1922, on a British Royal Navy vessel bound for Malta, and died in exile in 1926.

Although the Ottomans became known in the west for their opulent lifestyle and military might, the Empire's real strength was the fact that it created a well-ordered society, based on principles of religious and cultural tolerance, caring for the welfare of the sick and the poor. The arts were cultivated and Istanbul and its other major cities became centres for trade in fine silks and other valuable commodities. In the late 15th century, at a time when it was common in Europe for the mentally ill to be burned at the stake as witches, asylums in Edime were using music therapy and the scent of flowers to treat their patients.

The Ottoman Empire united peoples of many different faiths, nationalities and cultures. In the 19th century, Istanbul's population was made up of Muslim Turks, Orthodox Greeks, Gregorian and Catholic Armenians, Jews, Levantines as well as numerous foreign merchants. Even today, Istanbul is one of the few places in the world where you can see churches, synagogues and mosques built within a short distance of each other.

It was Mehmet the Conqueror (1451-1481), who established his patronage of the fine arts, setting up an atelier in the new palace of Topkapi, which developed techniques such as calligraphy and miniature painting. He also encouraged study visits from foreign artists, which is how Gentile Bellini came to spend a year in Istanbul in 1479, when he painted his famous portrait of Sultan Mehmet II, which now hangs in the National Gallery in London. Even before the advent of Islamic belief, Turks had the tradition of illustrating manuscripts, however, the art of calligraphy flourished alongside the strict Islamic belief that it was wrong to depict people or animals, and was mainly used to illuminate words from the Koran. It was also used for the elaborate, stylised signature unique to each of the sultans known as the tugra. The detailed miniatures, on the other hand, act as a historic document portraying the lives of the sultans and their court, showing both historic and everyday events. At a much later date, Sultan Abdulhamid II who ruled from 1876 - 1909, appointed state photographers and sent albums of their photographs to fellow heads of state around the world, to show them the progress and achievements of his empire.

The Ottomans were also great explorers and the famous Admiral Piri Reis was a renowned navigator and important cartographer, who charted and drew remarkably accurate maps of the world, including the oldest surviving map showing the Americas, which dates back to 1513 and is kept in the Topkapi Palace Museum.

The Harem
Although harem was simply the word used to describe the female living quarters in a residence, to many westerners it conjures up a romantic image, based largely on the Imperial harem at Topkapi Palace. The most important person in the harem was the Valide Sultan (Mother of the Sultan), followed by the Sultanas, the sultan's daughters, his favourites and other concubines and odalisques (a word which comes from the Turkish "odalik" or chamber-maid). Traditionally, there were up to four kadins or favourites, who were the equivalent of legal wives and thus accorded privileges. Nurbanu, for example, the favourite of Selim II, was given an entourage of 150 ladies in waiting. In fact, many of those living in the harem had no contact at all with the' sultan but simply acted as servants to the other members of the household. At its peak, there were 1000 women living in the harem at Topkapi Palace. All of these were non-Muslim slave women, brought from all corners of the Ottoman Empire. The women of the harem were said to be the most beautiful in the Empire and the most attractive were trained to entertain the sultan by dancing, reciting poetry, playing musical instruments and mastering the erotic arts. According to Muslim tradition, no man could lay his eyes on another man's harem, which lead to the tradition of the harem being guarded by the black eunuchs, who were male prisoners of war or slaves fully castrated before puberty, captured from territories such as Egypt, Abyssinia and Sudan. At the height of the Empire, as many as 600-800 eunuchs served in the palace. The Chief Black Eunuch (Kiziar Aga), was the Ottoman Empire's third highest-ranking officer, after the Sultan and the Grand Vizier. His duties were wide-ranging, and included overseeing the protection of their women, the purchase of new concubines, arranging all royal ceremonies and sentencing those women accused of crimes.

The Janissaries
Christian subjects were required by the practice of devşirme to give up one of their sons to the service of the sultan. After the boys had converted to Islam they became either civil servants or soldiers, joining the elite army corps known as the Yeniçeri or Janissaries. Strict discipline was imposed upon them, but those who were gifted and ambitious could rise through the ranks, even as far as becoming Grand Vizier - the highest rank after the sultan. The Janissaries became so powerful, that they protested whenever they felt their privileges were being threatened, as exemplified by their overturning of their soup kettles and, at times, causing full scale riots. The system continued until 1826, when the Janissaries lost their popular support and were disbanded by Mahmut II. The traditional marching band of the Janissaries, the Mehter Takimi, has been revived in recent times and you can see them perform in the traditional uniform, playing kettle drums, clarinets and cymbals.

Ottoman Architecture
Colossal Ottoman architectural monuments still stand strong to this day, not only throughout Turkey, but also throughout the many lands which were under its rule at the time. The Ottomans were prolific builders and some of their finest works are public buildings such as mosques, and their surrounding kulliye (complex) consisting of buildings providing for the welfare of the community such as: Sifahane (hospital), medrese (college), imaret (alms kitchen), tabhane (guest house) and hamam (Turkish baths). Palaces, bridges, fountains, tombs and kervansarays (travellers' inns) are also amongst the fine buildings which remain to the present day. The Ottomans were fond of hunting and of spending time outdoors, often with lavish picnics. Wooden köşk's (pavilions or summer houses) can still be found in many parks and woodlands, which remained from Ottoman times. Private houses, amongst which are the konak (mansion) and yah (summer house, especially those on the shores of the Bosphorus), were traditionally built of wood, with the ground floor and foundations only built of stone. Some have survived to the present day, despite the fire hazard that their wooden structure posed. Recently, great interest has been shown in their preservation and many of them have been renovated, with some being converted to hotels and pensions. Typically the upper floors jut out over the street and the windows are obscured by wooden lattice-work, intended so that the women of the house could look out without being observed. The houses were planned around a central gallery room known as a hayat, from which the other rooms opened. The quarters were divided into the harem (the private part of the house only visited by the family and female guests) and the selamlik (where the man of the household received his guests). In grander houses these two areas would have separate courtyards, sometimes with fountains and ornamental pools.















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Kubad-Abad Palace complex, which was mentioned by the famous Seljuk historian İbn Bibi in his Selçuk name, and which was constructed upon the order of Alaeddin Keykubad I (1220 - 1236), is the only Seljuk palace building that survived to today. Kubad-Abad, around which a city with the same name was established in the Anatolian Seljuk Period, was later abandoned and buried into the darkness of history.

After İbrahim Hakkı Konyalı and Prof. Dr. Osman Turan pointed out that the palace should be around Beyşehir, the Konya Museum Director Zeki Oral, found the location of Kubad-Abad in 1949. Kubad-Abad, which had been left to itself for a long period after the excavation studies and drilling works of Zeki Oral in 1952, Katharina Ottodorn in 1965 - 1966 and Mehmet Önder in 1967, has been re-handled by Prof. Dr. Rüçhan Arık starting from 1980 and systematic excavations have been started. After excavating the perimeter of the Small Palace in the Kubad-Abad Palace Complex, Prof. Dr. Rüçhan Arık has performed researches and excavations in the Selçuklu Mansion in Malanda in the hinterland of Kubad-Abad and in the Kız Fort, which has a connection with the palace complex.

In these excavation works, the main structure in Kız Fort and in-situ encaustic tiles, the bath part and the architectural ruins around the Small Palace, that is among the important units of the palace complex at the shore have been brought to open. Furthermore, with the drilling in Malanda Mansion, the plan of the existing part of the building has been shown. In the excavations, many encaustic tiles, ceramics, plasters, glasses and coins belonging to the Seljuk Period have been found. Under the Seljuk layer around the Small Palace, ruins and small finds belonging to the Ancient Period have been discovered.





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Florya is a settlement at the coast of the Marmara sea, between Yesilkoy and Kucukcekmece. It is known to be a small fisherman's haven. With Ataturk taking interest, Florya started to gain some importance and became a summer resort.


The pavilion, which was projected by architect Seyfi Arkan as per the request of the Istanbul municipality on 1935, was constructed as a summer house for Ataturk. And during the same year, on the 14th of August, it was opened for usage. During the months of June and July 1936, for quite a while, the Great Leader lived in this pavilion. He used it for political and scientific meetings and entertained prominent guests such as the King of England, Edward VIII and Madame Simpson.

The pavilion was used for last time by Ataturk, on 28 May 1938. After his death, the pavilion was used by the Republic's Presidents İsmet İnönü, Celal Bayar, Cemal Gürsel, Cevdet Sunay, Fahri Korutürk and Kenan Evren.

This building compound was transferred to The Office of the National Palaces which is connected to the Turkish Grand National Assembly by the Presidency on the 16th of September 1988. After its restoration, it was converted to the Ataturk Museum, and a permanent photograph exhibition under the topic of 'Ataturk in Istanbul' was formed. On the other hand, various publications were introduced, put on sale in one section of the pavilion. The Aide's and the Secretariat buildings have been restored and converted to social facilities for the use of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. A new building was constructed in the previously unoccupied area between these two buildings to accommodate a cafeteria and a restaurant. The garden was also arranged to serve as an open air cafeteria.













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Until XVII. Century this site was one of the coves in the Bosporus. In mythology it is the place where the Argonauts' legendary ship 'argo' had anchored in order to find the Golden Pelt, and in history, Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror had beached his ships again in this cove to cross over to the Golden Horn during the conquest of Istanbul.

This cove was a natural harbour where the Ottoman Admirals anchored the naval fleet, and was the location where the traditional maritime ceremonies had taken place. Beginning from the XVII. Century onwards, the cove started to be filled up from time to time, and became one of the unique gardens of the Bosporus called Dolmabahce (Filled up Garden).

Through out the history, Dolmabahce was developed by villas and pavilions built by various Sultans, and in the course of time, took the appearance of a palace called 'Besiktas Waterside Palace'. During the reign of Sultan Abdulmedjid, on the grounds of being made out of timber and hence being useless, the demolition of the Besiktas Waterside Palace started in 1843, and the foundation of today's Dolmabahce Palace began in its place.

Together with the perimeter walls, the construction was completed in 1856. Dolmabahce Palace, built on a site of over 110.000 square metres, is consisted of sixteen separate sections besides the main structure. Those sections are the buildings with different functions, such as palace stables, mills, pharmacies, kitchens, aviaries, the glass shop, the foundry and the patisserie shop. During the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II. (1876 - 1909), the clock tower and the lodges in the rear garden of the Heir Apparent's apartment were added.

The palace was constructed by the most important Ottoman architects of the period Karabet and Nikogos Balyan. The main block of the palace is composed of three sections: the Mabeyn-i Humayun (Selamlik), the Muayede (Ceremonial Hall) and the Harem-i Humayun (Harem). The Mabeyn-i Humayun is where state affairs take place, Harem-i Humayun is the private section of Sultan and his family, and in the centre, Muayede is the hall where Sultan received guest of honours and official ceremonies took place.

Dolmabahce Palace, including the basement floor, is a three - storey structure. Despite of the distinct western influence apparent in form, detail and ornamentation, the building is a work of Ottoman architects' masterly interpretation of these impressions. On the other hand, the plan arrangement is an adaptation of the traditional Turkish house in a grandeur scale, constructed with stone external walls, brick internal walls and timber floors. Being open to the technology of its period, the Palace received its central heating and electrical systems during the years 1910 - 1912. In the Palace, there are 285 rooms, 46 halls, 6 Hamams (Turkish baths) and 68 toilets, totalling 45.000 square metres of used floor area. Fine parquetry floors are covered by 4.454 square metres of carpets that were, at first woven in the Palace's loom house, and then, in Hereke, which was famous with its carpets.

Mabeyn, where the Sultan carries out the state affairs, regarding its function and splendour, is the most prominent section of the building. The Medhal (entrance) Hall in the entry; the Crystal Stairs leading to upper floor; the Sufera (ambassadors) Hall, the guest room for the ambassadors and the Red Room where Sultan received the ambassadors are all decorated and furnished to emphasize the historical splendour of the Empire. In the upper floor, the Zulvecheyn (two planed) Hall allows a crossing to the Sultan's private living quarters in the Mabeyn section. In these quarters, apart from the study rooms and halls, there is a magnificent Hamam furnished with marbles from Egypt.

Situated between Harem and Mabeyn, the Muayede (celebration) Hall is the highest and the most magnificent section of Dolmabahce Palace. Consisiting of over 2000 square metres, with 56 columns, this hall is distinguished from other part of the Palace with its 36 m high dome and with a 4.5 tonne chandelier made in Britain. The hall is heated by a central heating system blowing warm air from the feet of the columns, providing a comfortable temperature even in the coldest days. During the traditional holy days and celebrations, the golden throne used to be brought in to the hall and Sultan received notables and diplomatic corps on this throne. The galleries had been allotted to diplomatic staff, male and female guests and to the Palace orchestra.

Despite being built by taking European palaces as an example and being influenced by western architecture, in Dolmabahce, the Harem was designed as a separate section, although not rigid as it used to be in terms of functional relations and space arrangements. It is not a building or a compound separated from the Palace, as it is the case in Topkapi Palace, but a private living space integrated to the rest of the structure under the same roof.

The Harem section makes up the two thirds of Dolmabahce Palace. Passage from the Mabeyn and the Muayede Hall to the Harem is made through the corridors with iron gates and heavy timber doors, a remark of the traditional segregation. The spacious halls lightened by the reflections of the Bosporus, the bedrooms of Sultans, his wives, concubines, sons and daughters, and the study and lounge rooms are all in this section. The apartment of the Valide Sultan (Mother Sultan), the Blue and Pink Halls, the rooms of Sultans Abdulmedjid, Abdulaziz and Resad, the concubines section, the matrons' rooms, the Great Ataturk's study and bedroom and many valuable artifacts such as furnitures, rugs and kilims, inscriptions, vases, chandeliers, oil paintings are the most interesting and impressive features of the Harem.

Today, all sections and units of Dolmabahce Palace are restored and opened to visitors. Main exhibition units of Dolmabahce Palace are: two 'Precious Items Exhibition Halls', where the precious items of the palace are exhibited, the 'Internal Treasury Exhibition Building' where samples from the National Palaces Yildiz (Star) Porcelain collection are displayed, the 'Art Gallery' where parts of the National Palaces Painting collection are usually exhibited in this gallery over long periods of time, the 'Abdulmedjid Efendi Library' in Mabeyn section of the Palace, and the 'Historical Corridor' under the 'Art Gallery' which is a permanent exhibition of a collection of bird motifs from architectural ornamentations and various palace items and objects.

The old 'Furnishing Department' at the entrance of the Palace is now the 'Cultural Information Centre'. Scientific studies and presentation activities taking place in various National Palaces are directed from this centre. There is also a reference library in the service of scholars, which consist of mostly the XIX. Century publishings.

In the gardens of Clock Tower, the Furnishing Department, Aviary, Harem and Heir Apparent's apartment sections, cafeterias and gift shops are present for the service of the visitors. Introductory books about National Palaces prepared by the Cultural Information Centre, various postcards, reproductions of the paintings from the National Palaces Art collection are on sale in these shops. At the same time, Muayede Hall and the gardens are allotted to national and international receptions. With these new arrangements, the Palace, today, has been acquired of the museum sections and, of artistic and cultural activities.













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