Historic Sites in Turkey: Explore Ancient Cities, Fortresses and Palaces
Explore more than 400 historic sites in Turkey, including prehistoric settlements, ancient cities, fortresses, palaces, churches and mosques. Among the examples are closely packed houses at Çatalhöyük, a Hittite gateway, Roman streets and residences at Ephesus, and an Ottoman fortress beside the Bosphorus. Palace courtyards and domed religious buildings show other forms of architecture represented across the collection.
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Mezit Bey Mosque is a fifteenth-century Ottoman mosque in central Edirne, founded under Mezit Bey and restored after earthquake damage, wartime…
Parekhi was a major Georgian monastic and literary center in medieval Klarjeti. Founded in the ninth century, the complex preserves two principal…
Sitti Hatun Mosque, also called Kamberler Mosque, was built in Bursa in 1459 through the patronage of Sittî Nefise Hatun. Its inscription,…
Hüdâvent Hatun Türbe is a 1312 Seljuk Islamic tomb in Niğde, built for Hüdâvent Hatun, daughter of the Seljuk ruler Kilij Arslan IV, and noted for…
Gazi Hodja Mosque is a restored fourteenth-century Ottoman mosque in Edirne, attributed to Gazi Hoca Rüstem and still used for worship.
St. Marineh Church was Muş’s mother church and an important Armenian Apostolic center, completed in the sixth century and destroyed during the 1915…
Aghperig Monastery in the historic Sasun region is a ruined Armenian Apostolic complex with churches, narthexes, a bell tower, and late medieval…
Akkale is the independently fortified inner citadel of Ankara Castle, built in 1249 under Seljuk rule and later used as the first museum of the…
The Cistern of Mocius was a major Byzantine open-air reservoir built under Emperor Anastasius I to supply expanding quarters of Constantinople. Its…
Gökvelioğlu Kalesi is a medieval fortress in Cilicia whose two castle levels controlled routes, the Ceyhan River, and the surrounding coastal plain.
Opiza was an important Georgian Orthodox monastery in medieval Tao-Klarjeti, known for its church architecture, manuscript production, metalwork, and…
Eskipazar Mosque, also known as Bayrambey Mosque, was commissioned in the late fourteenth century by Hacı Emir İbrahim Bey and later became a central…
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Prehistoric settlements and houses
At Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia, successive generations built houses over earlier buildings, gradually creating deep settlement mounds. The excavated neighbourhoods preserve tightly packed houses with little space for streets between them.
Many houses were entered through roof openings, and movement probably took place across the roofs. These openings also helped ventilate interiors containing hearths and ovens. The arrangement differs from the street-based plans of many later towns.
City gates and waterside fortresses
The Lion Gate at Hattusa belonged to the outer defences of the Hittite capital. Two towers flanked a central gate chamber, with monumental sculpted lions at the exterior entrance.
Large stone blocks formed the lower towers and doorway. The surviving structure includes modern conservation work, including the reconstruction of a missing lion’s head.
Rumelihisarı occupies the European shore of the Bosphorus opposite Anadoluhisarı. Mehmed II commissioned it before the Ottoman siege of Constantinople to restrict supplies and military assistance reaching the city by water.
Three principal towers and smaller watchtowers are linked by defensive walls following the hillside. The northern principal tower alone has walls about seven metres thick. The position beside the narrow waterway explains both the fortress’s purpose and the concentration of masonry along its slopes.
Ancient cities, libraries and residences
Ephesus preserves a large ancient urban site between the hills near Selçuk. Streets connected civic spaces, residential districts and the harbour. As river sediment accumulated, the shoreline moved westward, leaving the ancient harbour inland.
The Library of Celsus was commissioned in the early second century AD in memory of a Roman provincial governor. His sarcophagus lay beneath the building. Nearby, the Terrace Houses contain courtyards, mosaic floors, wall paintings and marble panelling from wealthy Roman residences.
The houses occupy terraces on a hillside opposite the Temple of Hadrian. Some remained in use into late antiquity, with successive alterations to their rooms and decoration.
Palaces and courtly residences
Topkapı Palace in Istanbul grew from the palace commissioned by Mehmed II after the conquest of Constantinople. It consists of courtyards, pavilions, gardens, service buildings and residential quarters, rather than one large symmetrical block.
Four principal courtyards organize the main approach through the complex. Successive additions accommodated court life and government, while the palace’s position overlooks the Golden Horn, Bosphorus and Sea of Marmara.
Ishak Pasha Palace in eastern Turkey follows a related sequence of outer and inner courts in a mountain setting. Service rooms and stables occupied the outer court; the inner court led towards reception rooms, a mosque and residential spaces.
Its walls rise above steep slopes near Doğubeyazıt. The courtyards and private quarters fit within a comparatively compact enclosure on the rocky spur, overlooking the former settlement and the route towards Iran.
Byzantine churches and Ottoman mosques
Hagia Sophia in Trabzon is a thirteenth-century church associated with the Empire of Trebizond. Its cross-shaped arrangement centres on a domed space, with a windowed drum above the crossing. It later became a mosque.
The Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul was built for Suleiman I by the architect Sinan between 1550 and 1557. A large central dome and adjoining semi-domes cover the prayer hall, while galleries help incorporate the supporting buttresses into the exterior.
The mosque was part of a wider foundation containing schools, a hospital, a public kitchen and other buildings. Its plan therefore extended beyond the prayer hall to facilities serving education, accommodation and daily needs.
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