DİYARBAKIR
History
The Citadel and the Walls of Diyarbakir, guarding the city for
thousands of years, as if it was guarding a holy relic by surrounding the city
magnificently, and 8,000 years old Hevsel Gardens are nominated as a candidate for
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO)
World Heritage List.
With its length of 6 kilometers, Walls of Diyarbakir, is the
second largest city walls in the world after the Great Wall of China.
It is situated 100 m. above the valley of River Tigris. Diyarbakir still
carries a medieval atmosphere with its walls encircling the city with
its almost intact and impressive, 10-12 meters high and 3-5 meters thick,
high walls.
Although there were Roman and probably earlier wallshere, the
present walls, date back to early Byzantine times. It welcomes the
visitors with relievos and figures on it by telling about the civilizations
that lived neighbor on the walls throughout history. There are four
main gates along the wall into the old city called as Dag Kapi, Urfa Kapi,
Mardin Kapi and Yeni Kapi, each of which deserves a visit along with their
inscriptions and reliefs. It also includes 82 watch-towers, which were built in
antiquity, approximate 3,000 years ago, restored and extended by the Roman
emperor Constantius II in 349.
The earliest reference to the city comes from Assyrian records which
identify it as being the capital of the Aramean kingdom of Bit-Zamani
(ca. 1300 BC). In the ninth century BC, the city joined a rebellion against the
Assyrian king Shalmaneser III. The city was later reduced to being a
province of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
From 189 BCE to 384 CE, the region to the east and south of present
Diyarbakır came under the rule of the Hellenistic kingdom of Corduene.
Later, the Romans colonized the city and named it Amida, after the
earlier Assyrian name Amid. During the Roman rule, the first city walls
were constructed (297 AD) and later, the greater walls were built as per the
command of the Roman emperorConstantius II. After the Romans, the Persians came
to power and were succeeded by the Muslim Arabs. It was the leader of the Arab
Bekr tribe, Bekr Bin Vail, who named the city Diyar Bakr, meaning "the
country of Bakr", i.e. Arabs. Much later, in the Republican era, the city
got its current name Diyarbakır, which was derived from the abundance of copper
ore that exists here.
Antiquity
The area around Diyarbakır has been inhabited by humans from the stone age
with tools from that period having been discovered in the nearby Hilar cave
complex. The pre-pottery neolothic B settlement of Çayönü dates to over 10,000
years ago and its excavated remains are on display at the Diyarbakır Museum.
Another important site is Girikihaciyan Tumulus in Egil
The first major civilization to establish themselves in the region of what
is now Diyarbakır were the Hurrian kingdom of the Mitanni. The city
was first mentioned by Assyrian texts as the capital of a Semitic kingdom. It
was then ruled by a succession of nearly every polity that controlled Upper
Mesopotamia such as
the Aramean, Assyrians, Urartu,Armenians, Achaemenid
Persians, Medes, Seleucids, and Parthians.The Roman Republic
gained control of the city in 66 BC by when it was named "Amida".In
359,Shapur II of Persia captured Amida after a siege of 73 days which
is vividly described by the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus.
Bridges
On Gözlü (Ten-Arched) Bridge
Spanning the Tigris River, Ten
Arched Bridge is located on the old Mardin Road, some three kilometers south of
the Mardin Gate. At the foot of Kırklar Mountain, this bridge is also known as
the Tigris Bridge or the Silvan Bridge. According to some sources, the bridge
was built in 515 B.C.E. by Anastasias the First, and was destroyed and rebuilt
in the middle of the eighth century by the Umayyad Caliphate Hisham. The French
architect and archaeologist Albert Gabriel, meanwhile, suggests that the bridge
is much older, whereas an inscription between the first three arches of the
bridge on the south claims that the structure was built by the architect
Sancaroğlu Ubeydoğlu Yusuf between the years of 1065 and 1067 by the Marwanid
Dynasty.The bridge is flat and built of basalt stone, and is composed, as the
name suggests, of ten arches. The middle three sections are quite narrow, while
the five sections to the west are quite wide. In recent years, for reasons of
historical preservation, the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality closed the
bridge to traffic and constructed another functioning bridge, the Marwanid
Bridge, in its place
Deve Geçidi Bridge (Pira
Neqeba Deveyan)
This bridge is some 20 kilometers to the north of Diyarbakır, on the road
to Ergani, over the Deve Geçidi Brook. On the southern section of the bridge
are three inscriptions. According to what they record, the bridge was made in
1218 by the Artuqid ruler Melik Salih Nâsıreddin Mahmud. The bridge has seven
section, a pointed or lancet arch, and is made entirely of cut basalt stone.
The bridge was last repaired in 1972.
Mosques
Great
Mosque of Diyarbakır
The mosque as it is known today was built in 1091 by the Seljuk ruler Malik-Shah.
The design influenced by the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus,
used the locally found black basalt rock.[4] The
mosque suffered extensive damage in a fire in 1155.
The Great Mosque of Diyarbakir is the oldest and one of the most
significant mosques in Mesopotamia. Following the Muslim capture of Diyarbakir
in 639, a mosque was built, but the building fell into disuse and ruin sometime
later. Even after the conversion of the church into the mosque, it was used by
both Muslims and Christians. In 1091 Sultan Malik Shah directed the local
Seljuk governor Maidud Davla to rebuild a mosque on the site. Completed in
1092, the mosque is similar to and heavily influenced by the Umayyad Great
Mosque in Damascus (which was repaired by Malik Shah in the twelfth century
prior to work in Diyarbakir). The influence of the Damascus mosque brought
Syrian architecture and decoration to Anatolia. The portal of the mosque is
carved with two lions attacking two bulls. The mosque consists of a prayer hall
which makes up the entire south wall of the courtyard, three aisles which
together are more than twice as wide as they are deep. The high roof of the
central hall is made of timber trusses, supported by rows of rectangular stone
piers.
The mosque is actually a complex of buildings around a courtyard 63 metres
(207 feet) long by 30 metres (98 feet) wide. The façade of the courtyard is
highly decorated two-story colonnade on the east, south, and west sides, with
only one story on the north side. The western façade, rebuilt by the Atabek
Inaloglu Abu Mansur Ilaldi between 1117 and 1125 following an earthquake and
fire in 1115, reuses columns and sculptural moldings from a Roman theater. The
architect Hibat Allah al Gurgani was responsible for both that reconstruction
and the square minaret rising above the qibla wall. Also included in the
complex are the Mesudiye Medresesi (1193) and, not connected to the courtyard,
the Zinciriye Medresesi (1189) . The center of the courtyard has an Ottoman
(1849) sadirvan (ablution fountain) and a platform for praying; both block a
clear view through the courtyard.
Many Kufic inscriptions record in detail the rebuilding and additions made
to the complex throughout its long history. Lavish carving and decoration of
the columns of the courtyard are one of the distinguishing features of the
Great Mosque. The western arcade of the courtyard includes the first use of the
broken arch.
Behram Pasha Mosque
Behram Pasha Mosque ( Behram Paşa Camii,
Mizgefta Behram Paşa) is a mosque in Diyarbakır.
Construction began in 1564 under the patronage of the local Ottoman
governor Behram Pasha (Behram Paşa) and it was completed in 1572. It is built
in the classical Ottoman style with a number of domes mounted on high arches.[1] As
with many other historical buildings of the city, it is made of the locally
found black basalt with
alternating bands of white limestone.[2]
Hazreti Süleyman Mosque
Hazreti Süleyman Mosque (Hazreti Süleyman Camii, Mizgefta Hezretî
Silêman) is a mosque in Diyarbakır.
The mostly ashlar structure was built between 1155 and 1169 by Nisanoğlu
Ebul Kasim. The mosque is divided into three sections and has a square based
minaret which has inscription dated to 555 according to the Islamic calendar
(i.e. 1160 CE). It contains the tombs of Süleyman, son of Halit B Valit of the
Bekir clan and his followers. The mosque was brought to its current state in
1631 by Silahdar Murtaza Pasha.
Sheikh Matar Mosque
Sheikh Matar Mosque or Sheikh Mutahhar Mosque (Şeyh Matar
Camii, Mizgefta Şêx Matar or Şeyh Mutahhar Camii)
is a historical mosque in Diyarbakır,
Turkey, best known for its unique minaret based
on four columns, dubbed the Four-legged Minaret (Dört Ayaklı Minare, Minareya
Çarling).
The mosque is situated in the Yenikapı Street of Savaş neighborhood at
Diyarbakır's walled historical district of Sur. The mosque is named after
Sheikh Matar (Mutahhar) as it is believed that the mosque's estate covering
600 m2 (6,500 sq ft) contains the grave of the sheikh.[1][2]
According to an inscription attached at the minaret,
the mosque was built by Hajji Hüseyin,
son of Hajji Ömer during the reign of Ag Qoyunlu Sultan
Kasım Han in 1500. Locally, it is also known as the "Kasım Padishah Mosque".[1][3] It
is owned by the General Directorate of Foundations.[2]
The mosque is a single-dome,
quadratic-plan building having stone masonry walls alternating with brick.
There are three windows at each side, and two in the front and backside each,
all arched. The two windows on the qibla wall are closed
with masonry.[3] It
has a covered area of 221 m2 (2,380 sq ft), and can hold up
to 500 worshipers.[1][2]
The stand-alone minaret in the form of a quadratic prism is ereceted on
four massive stone columns. In the "Diyarbakır Salnâmeleri"
(Yearbooks of Diyarbakır), it is recorded that the tower was built in 906 as a
stable and high structure, and was converted into a minaret with the
construction of the mosque next to it after the conquest of the region by
Islamic people.[1][3]Today,
local people construe that the four columns at the minaret's base symbolize the
four main denominations of Sunni Islam ,
namely Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki and Shafi'i.[2][4]
The mosque underwent a restoration in 1960 through the General Directorate
of Foundations.
Churches
Surp Sarkis Armenian Orthodox
Church
This church is in the neighborhood of Alipaşa, on Karabulut Street. It has
two floors, a space for women on the top floor and on the entrance floor the
litany hall. One can today view the extant baptismal room, the stairway leading
to the women’s floor, the altar, the courtyard, and the remnant walls of a
destroyed school.
While the exact date of construction is unknown, the first written records we
have of the church date to the sixteenth century. Because the church was used
for a short time as a rice processing plant, it is also widely known as the
“Rice Church”.
Protestant Church
This church is in Hasırlı Neighborhood, on Muallak Street, and was built in
the 19th century. It’s a two-floor structure constructed in a rectangular shape
of cut basalt, the second floor a devotedly female social space. Until recently
the church was used as a storage facility. Like the aforementioned Armenian
church, it too underwent restoration in 2009.
Virgin MaryAncient Assyrian
Church
Built atop a temple used since well before the Common Era as a space of sun
worship, The Mother Mary Church was built in the third century C.E, and today
is located in Alipaşa Neighborhood on the street called Ana Sokak. Belonging to
the Yakubi denomination, also called Assyrian Orthodox, it is one of the few
active churches in a city once with a large and vibrant Christian community.
The structure includes a library, quarters for the Patriarchate, a guest house,
and residence quarters, along with three splendid courtyards.
Housing many historical artifacts, the church’s doors are made of walnut wood,
and in the interior, the centuries-old paintings of saints and the silver lamps
are particularly remarkable.
As is custom in many Assyrian churches, there are a number of tombs of past
patriarchs and priests housed within the church. When, in 1034, the
Patriarchate of the church was relocated to Diyarbakır, the Mother Mary Church
served the congregation for eight centuries. In 1933, following the deportation
and fleeing of many of the city’s Assyrian Christians, the church was linked to
the Mardin Assyrian Metropolitan Bishopric, and remains so today.
Mar Petyun Chaldean Catholic
Church
In Özdemir Neighborhood on Şeftali Sokak, Peach Street, is this
17th-century church. From January 8, 1681 until recently, the church served as
the Diyarbakır Chaldean Patriarchate for Eastern Assyrian Christians, also
known as Catholic Chaldeans. The church is divided by archways into four naves.
It is open for worship.
Virgin MaryAncient Assyrian
Church
Built atop a temple used since well before the Common Era as a space of sun
worship, The Mother Mary Church was built in the third century C.E, and today
is located in Alipaşa Neighborhood on the street called Ana Sokak. Belonging to
the Yakubi denomination, also called Assyrian Orthodox, it is one of the few
active churches in a city once with a large and vibrant Christian community.
The structure includes a library, quarters for the Patriarchate, a guest house,
and residence quarters, along with three splendid courtyards.
Housing many historical artifacts, the church’s doors are made of walnut wood,
and in the interior, the centuries-old paintings of saints and the silver lamps
are particularly remarkable.
As is custom in many Assyrian churches, there are a number of tombs of past
patriarchs and priests housed within the church. When, in 1034, the
Patriarchate of the church was relocated to Diyarbakır, the Mother Mary Church
served the congregation for eight centuries. In 1933, following the deportation
and fleeing of many of the city’s Assyrian Christians, the church was linked to
the Mardin Assyrian Metropolitan Bishopric, and remains so today.
Surp Giragos Armenian Orthodox
Church
While the exact origin of the church is unknown, references to Surp Giragos
first appear in written records in 1517. The church is located on the street
called Göçmen Sokak in Özdemir Neighborhood. In 1827 and again in 1880, there
were major fires in the church, and after 1880, additional buildings were
attached to the church. After these additions, the structure became the only
Armenian church in the world with seven altars, two of them being on the second
floor where women gather and five close to the entrance. The church once held
as many as 3,000 worshippers. To the left of the church is the Surp Hagop
Chapel. The chapel is a remnant of the post-1880s renovations. Linked to the main
church by its main entrance, the chapel is still in good condition today.
Around the time of World War I, the church was used as the headquarters for
German military officers, and until 1960 it was used as a storage space for the
military, for Sümerbank, and for other similar aims. Recently, however, the
church was repaired by the diaspora Diyarbakır Armenian community and returned
to its original use.
The main church, the chapel, the Patriarchate’s building, the housing quarters,
wells, and three courtyards have lost little of their splendor, and are
certainly worth a visit.
The Castle of
Diyarbakır
The Castle of Diyarbakır has, for thousands of years, acted as historical
guardian of the city’s relics. It sits on a wide plane on the eastern edge of
the basalt plateau that rises from the life-giving waters of Tigris. The
structure is composed of the earlier Inner Fortress and the Outer Fortress.
As the city’s first site of settlement, the Inner Fortress constitutes the core
of the city. The small castle found here was built between 3700-3500 B.C.E. by
the Hurrians and the Mitannis.
Because the shape of the Inner Fortress is so intertwined with that of the city
walls more generally, some historical context on the walls is helpful: Every
civilization that ruled the city expanded the city walls in line with its
security needs. The walls were rebuilt from scratch in 349 C.E. by the Roman
Emperor Constantius II.
In 362, as a result of an agreement between the Sassanid and Roman Empires, the
Sassanids took possession of an important Roman fortification in the nearby
city of Nusaybin (Nisibis), and the people of Nusaybin, for religious reasons,
migrated to Diyarbakır and settled on the plain along the fortress’ western
edge. Following this migration, the western edges of the city walls were
destroyed and the people of Nusaybin were brought into the city walls. This
reconstruction gave the Diyarbakır Castle its current shape; the new walls
expanded the city’s borders, and the Inner Fortress became the administrative
center. Another major expansion of the Inner Fortress occurred between the
years of 1524 and 1526, when the Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent added
16 and two gates. With later repairs and additions, the Inner Fortress took its
current form.
What’s more, an archaeological excavation carried out in the Amida/Virantepe
Mound also uncovered ruins from an Artuqid palace from the early 13th century.
The graves of an important Marwanid rule, Nasruddevle Mansur, and his wife
Sittunas are also found in the Inner Fortress.
Diyarbakır has been home to many peoples, cultures and states, representing
more than 33 different civilizations.
Dağkapı
Tower
Also known as Harputkapı, or Harput Gate, after the historic Armenian city
of Harput, outside of present-day Elazığ. On the towers to the right and left
of the gate are many inscriptions from the Byzantine, Roman, Seljuk, Arab, and
Ottoman periods of rule, as well as reliefs of many animal and plant symbols,
grape bunches, crosses, and symbols of the sun. Today, the lower floor is used
as an exhibition space and houses the Tourism Information Bureau.
Maiden’s
Tower-Goat Tower
This curiously named tower is just outside of the district of Mardinkapı.
While the exact construction date is unclear, the Goat Tower, built on the site
of an ancient temple devoted to sun worship, does contain inscriptions
testifying to its repair during the Marwanid Dynasty. This tower is one of the
best sites in the city for a panoramic view of the city and its surroundings,
with especially fine views of Hevsel Gardens, the ancient Ten-Sectioned Bridge,
the Tigris River Valley, Kırklar Mountain, the Seman or Gazi Pavilion, of the
spread of Suriçi. This is one of the oldest and largest towers. Of particular
interest is the bird figure found on stonework on the front arch just inside
the tower. There is also a section inside the tower that was once used as a
dungeon. The tower was restored in 2004 by the state Directorate of Surveys and
Monuments, and is used today as a reception hall and exhibition space.
Seven
Brothers Tower
An artifact of the Artuqid Period, this tower dates to 1208, and was built
around the same time as the Grand Wall Tower. There are reliefs on the walls,
doubled headed eagles and lions, and the inscriptions are prayers in the name
of those who had the wall built.
Evli-Ulu
Beden Tower
Built in 1208, this cylindrical tower is considered one of the most
beautiful remnants of the period, with delicately carved inscriptions and
reliefs of two-headed eagles and the winged lion, an image rooted in regional
mythologies.
Nur Tower
Commissioned in 1089 by the
Seljuk ruler Melikşah. The architect was a man named Selamioğlu Urfalı
Muhammed. In terms of its Kufic inscriptions and the variety of animal figures,
it is one of the city’s most opulent towers. The sophistication evident in the
reliefs of a long-horned goat and a running horse are especially impressive.
Also look for the dove motifs next to the inscription and, directly below the
doves, the relief of a short-haired woman sitting crossed legged in the nude,
holding her feet with her hands. We see that the arts have long been quite
advanced in Diyarbakır.
Inner
Fortress
With the Roman construction of the city walls, the Inner Fortress (Içkale)
took one a new special role, and in every subsequent period was used as a
center of government and administration.
Located in the northwestern corner of the city walls, settlement in the Inner
Fortress dates back to the first settled civilizations in the region, the
Hurrian and Mitanni (circa 3700-3500 B.C.E.). The mound in the Inner Fortress is referred to as
Amida Mound in the archaeological literature, and there are human traces around
this mound as far back as 6000 B.C.E., when the city is believed to have been
founded. The old Artuqid-era caravanserai inside the Inner Fortress was for a
long used as a prison, and is the subject of many of the oral poems in the
dengbêj tradition (see below). The other historical sites here were used until
2005 as a Gendarmerie brigade.
Who is al-Jazarī?
Considered the
father of “robotic” sciences in the Golden Age of Islam, al-Jazarī was the
first scientist and engineer to carry out work on cybernetics. His full name
was Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī, and
he was born in 1136 in Cizre, in the neighborhood of Tor. This early Kurdish
intellectual spent some time in Diyarbakır, and died in Cizre in 1233. Aside
from the early records in Western literature of the Greek mathematician
Archytas who invented a prototype of a mechanical pigeon working on steam,
al-Jazarī is the earliest recorded instance of robotics and mathematical
mechanics. He presented his explorations in his treatise on automata, the
Kitāb fī maʻarifat al-ḥiyal al handasiya,
which has since become famous in the world history of science and robotics.
This extraordinary book contains detailed drawings of the principles behind and
potential benefits of more than 50 devices. While the whereabouts of the
original is unknown, of the 15 known copies, ten are in various European
museums and five are in libraries in Topkapı Palace in Istanbul and in
Süleymaniye, in northern Iraq. Another famous work of his, Kitab-ül Hiyel, is a
tome of no less than six volumes.
Gates
Diyarbakır’s city walls have
four main gates: Dağkapı (Mountain Gate), Mardinkapı (Mardin Gate), Urfakapı
(Urfa Gate), and Yenikapı (New Gate). Inside the Inner Fortress there are also
four additional gates, the Saraykapı (Palace Gate), the Küpelikapı (Ringed
Gate), the Fetihkapı Gate (Victory Gate), and the Oğrunkapı (Oğrun Gate). The
latter two connect the Inner Fortress with outside the city walls, while the
former open to the city. Fetih and Oğrun are not in use today.
Dağkapı Dağkapı opens towards the city of Harput.This gate is the site of the
governor’s disastrous decision in 1932 to destroy some 200 m of the city walls
(the site between Mountain Gate and Single Wall Tower) in the name of
increasing air flow in the historic city center.
Yenikapı The eastern gate of the city has a low arch and is a one-way entrance. It
links up the city with the Tigris River, and for this reason is also known as
the Water Gate or the Tigris Gate.
Urfakapı To the west of the city is Urfakapı, also known Rum Gate or Aleppo Gate. In
previous times, the Urfa Gate had two entrances. The
first was covered in iron and decorated with animal heads and a two-headed
eagle. It was repaired by the Seljuks, and opens onto Melik Ahmet Street. The
other door had a stone arch, and in the Byzantine times it was directly
connected to the Church of Mother Mary and used only by priests and nuns. A
third gate, meanwhile, was built only later.
Mardinkapı South of the old city is Mardinkapı, also known as Tel
or Tepe (Hill) Gate. Recently restored, this gate is now open to use.