11 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Turkish Ancient Cemetery will be İntroduced to the World

We would not be exaggerating if we say that Ahlat, which is a naive district of Bitlis on the shore of Lake Van surrounded by Nemrut and Süphan mountains, is the entrance gate of the Turks to Anatolia. This historical district embraced many states and dynasties from the Urartians to the Ottomans due to its natural beauty and fertile plains. This region bears traces of all the civilizations it hosted in the past; Thus, the Seljuks named it “Kubbet-u Islam”, Ottomans “City of Ancestors” and the Evliya Celebi “City of Oghuzs”. The center of Old Ahlat is called Harabe-i şehir (Ruin-city).

Ahlat has turned into an open-air museum with its magnificent history. It is a huge open-air museum filled with castles, mosques, bridges, baths, and lodges from the Seljuks. The world’s largest Turkish-Islamic open-air cemetery is also located here. Time-defying tombstones and especially vaulted tombs make Ahlat a center of attraction.

The tombstones found in the Seljuk Square Cemetery are works of art decorated with reliefs, inscriptions, and motifs that shed light on the history of the region.

These Seljuk tombstones in eastern Turkey are getting prepared to be introduced to the world as part of a project.

A 10-person team, including restorers and art historians from Italy, will join excavation works headed by Recai Karahan, a professor from Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, at the cemetery that has 8,103 tombs in a 210-decare area.

Exhibitions will be opened in Ahlat and Italy with an introductory film on the cemetery and photos of tombstones, each of which is a historical artifact.

“The lichens on the stones are cleaned with hard work to reveal the rich decorations on the tombstones,” Mikail Ercek, curator at Ahlat Museum, told Anadolu Agency.

Seljuk Turks
A section of the cemeteries in Ahlat.

“The decorations revealed are handled with great delicacy. It’s impossible not to admire these tombstones,” said Ercek.

He said that nearly 200 of the tombstones are standing.

“This is the source for being the first artifact left by our ancestors in this tradition in Anatolia. It is possible to see the versions of the motifs here in different parts of Anatolia,” he said.

Use of new techniques

Necati Aktekin, coordinator of the project from the district governorship, said the project is intended to preserve cultural heritage.

“Our aim is to see the different restoration techniques used in Italy and show the techniques applied in Ahlat to create new techniques for restoration,” said Aktekin.

“In addition to promoting the Seljuk Cemetery abroad, we also aim to restore our stones and make them more qualified,” he added.

Related Articles

Excavations at Aizanoi in Western Turkey to Resume

29 March 2021

29 March 2021

The ancient city of Aizanoi is located in the town of Çavdarhisar, 57 km from the center of Kütahya (Turkey’s...

Roman-era marble sundial found for the first time in Turkey’s second Ephesus

26 September 2022

26 September 2022

Archaeologists have unearthed a Roman-era marble sundial in the ancient city of Aizanoi in the Çavdarhisar district of Kütahya province...

Multiple Burials found at Çatalhöyük

17 September 2021

17 September 2021

Multiple burials were unearthed during the ongoing excavations in the house on the eastern mound of the Neolithic settlement Çatalhöyük....

Ancient city “Germanicia” lost in 73 years

8 July 2021

8 July 2021

The presence of the ancient city of Germanicia, discovered during an illegal excavation in the southeast Turkish province of Kahramanmaraş...

Aramaic four inscriptions found for the first time in eastern Turkey

17 September 2022

17 September 2022

Four inscriptions written in Aramaic were discovered in the ancient city with a grid plan, located on an area of...

At a dig site in western Turkey, a centuries-old Byzantine fortress will be revealed

24 December 2021

24 December 2021

Excavation of vast Byzantine-era fortifications considered to be about 900 years old has begun at a dig site in western...

A Newly Found 12,000-year-old Burial in Türkiye May Belong to a Female ‘Shaman’

28 July 2024

28 July 2024

A recently published study suggests that a woman buried in the upper reaches of the Tigris River in south-eastern Türkiye...

Water Cultu in Hittites and Eflatunpınar Hittite Water Monument

4 February 2021

4 February 2021

The Hittites, which left their mark on the Bronze Age period in Anatolia, is a society that draws attention with...

Turkey Adds New Sites to UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List

30 April 2021

30 April 2021

Two additional cultural objects have been added to Turkey’s World Heritage Tentative List, bringing the total number of cultural assets...

Are the skeletons found in the restoration of the Bukoleon Palace the victims of the Crusader army massacre in Constantinople?

29 November 2021

29 November 2021

It is thought that the 7 skeletons messy found in the Bukoleon Palace excavations may be the victims of the...

3,000-Year-Old Hazelnut Shells Discovered in the Sacred Hittite City of Nerik

30 July 2024

30 July 2024

In the sacred Hittite city of Nerik, located in the northern Vezirköprü district of Samsun province in the Central Black...

The unknown importance of Göllü Dağ on the route of the first humans’ Transition from Africa to Europe

4 October 2021

4 October 2021

The researches conducted in Göllü Dağ and its surroundings, located within the borders of Niğde province in Central Anatolia, and...

The ancient city of Kastabala will soon have a colonnaded Street

4 September 2021

4 September 2021

The archaeological excavation of the ancient city of Kastabala in Osmaniye Province in southern Turkey continues. Kastabala-Hierapolis is one of...

The Surprising Fact About The Roman-Era Female Bust

24 March 2021

24 March 2021

50 years ago, foundation excavation work was started for the construction of Girls’ Institute in Akpınar Neighborhood of Bolu city...

Excavations of Aççana Mound, the Capital of the Mukish Kingdom, Continue

16 July 2021

16 July 2021

2021 excavations have started at Aççana Höyük, the old city of Alalah, in Hatay’s Reyhanlı district. The ancient city of...