Kırşehir

Kırşehir, formerly Mocissus ( grc, Μωκισσός) and Justinianopolis (Ἰουστινιανούπολις), is a city in Turkey. It is the capital district of the Kırşehir Province. According to the 2000 census, the population of the district is 121,947 of which 105,826 live in the city of Kırşehir. The Mayor of Kırşehir is Selehattin Ekicioğlu.

History

The history of Kırşehir dates back to the Hittites. During the period of the Hittites, the basin of Kırşehir was known as the country of "Ahiyuva", meaning "the Land of the Achaeans", as the Greeks were known to the Hittites. This basin also took the name Cappadocia at the time of the Romans and Byzantines.

Kırşehir was once known as Aquae Saravenae. The Seljuks took the city in the 1070's and bestowed the current name. In Turkish, "''Kır Şehri''" means "''steppe city''" or "''prairie city''". It became the chief town of a sanjak in the Ottoman vilayet of Angora, which possessed, 1912, 8000 inhabitants, most of them Turks.

In the 19th century, Kırşehir was attached to the sanjak of Ankara. In the year 1921, Kırşehir was made capital of its own province. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk visited the city in 1921 and 1931.

Historic buildings and structures

Kesikköprü

Kesikköprü is one of the bridges built by the Seljuk Empire in Central Anatolia. It is on the way of Kırşehir-Konya, about to the south of Kırşehir, and across the River Kızılırmak with its 13 parts.

In the inscription of bridge, it is written that the bridge was built by Atabeg İzzü’d-Din Muhammed in 646 of the Hijrah/1248 of the Christian era during the rule of Keykavus, the son of Keyhüsrev. There is also an old Seljuk mosque built during the reign of either Mesud I or Kilij Arslan II. In the countryside is a ruined tomb of a possible dervish during the times of either Seljuks or Ottomans.

The ones who came from İzmir and tried to reach Sivas and Erzurum from Tokat passed over Kesikköprü. We have learned that the inscription was sunken into the river in 1953. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it took the name of Kesikköprü due to the fact that caravan roads were invaded by the highwaymen.

The three-line instruction destroyed on stone base can hardly be read.

The inscription

"Ressame bi imaret hazihil el kantara el mübareke (fi eyyam han) devlet es sultan el azam İzzü-d dünya ve ‘d Din Ebul Feth Keykavus bin Keyhüsrev Burhan Emirel mü’münin."

"El Mevla el sahibul azam atabek el muazzam nazım mesalih il alem nasır el enam zübdetil eyyam izzeddin ebul meli Muhammed zahir Ali Selçuk ve emiril mü’minil azzellahu nasrahu ve ala kadrehu fi şuhuri sene sitte ve arbain ve sitte mie hamiden lillah ve musallian ala nebiihi Muhammed ve alihi vesellem teslimen kesiran."

Aşık Pasha Mausoleum

Aşık Pasha Mausoleum is the tomb of the 14-century sufi poet Aşık Pasha who died in 1332.

Ecclesiastical history

Metropolitan Archbishopric of Mocissus

Mocissus was also a Christian bishopric, and became a metropolitan see when, as Procopius (De ædif., V, iv) informs us, Justinian divided Cappadocia into three provinces and made this fortified site in north-western Cappadocia metropolis of Cappadocia Tertia, giving it the name of Justinianopolis. Nothing else is known of its history, and its name should perhaps be written Mocessus. There is no doubt that the site of Mocissus, or Mocessus, is that which is occupied by the modern city of Kırşehir. It figured in the ''Notitiæ episcopatuum'' until the 12th or 13th century.

Only a few of its bishops are known: the earliest, Peter, attended the Fifth Ecumenical Council (Second Council of Constantinople, 536); the last, whose name is not known, was a Catholic, and was consecrated after the mid-15th century Catholic Council of Florence by Patriarch Metrophanes II of Constantinople.

Titular see

The diocese was restored in 1895 as a titular archbishopric of the highest (Metropolitan) rank.
It's vacant, having had the following incumbents:
* John Joseph Frederick Otto Zardetti (1895.05.25 – 1902.05.09)
* Giacomo Merizzi (1902.08.21 – 1916.03.22)
* Giovanni Battista Vinati (1916.07.31 – 1917.01.09)
* Adolf Fritzen (1919.07.31 – 1919.09.07)
* Lorenzo Schioppa (1920.08.20 – 1935.04.23)
* John Hugh MacDonald (1936.12.16 – 1938.03.05)
* Nicolas Cadi (1939.11.16 – 1941)
* Roger-Henri-Marie Beaussart (1943.12.10 – 1952.02.29)
* Vigilio Federico Dalla Zuanna, O.F.M. Cap. (1952.11.24 – 1956.03.04)
* Giovanni Jacono (1956.10.02 – 1957.05.26)
* Heinrich Wienken (1957.08.19 – 1961.01.21)
* Gabrijel Bukatko (1961.03.02 – 1964.03.24)

Climate

Kırşehir has a continental climate (Köppen climate classification: ''Dsa,'' Trewartha climate classification: ''Dc''), with cold, snowy winters and hot, dry summers. Light rainfall occurs year-round, except for late summer when rain is virtually absent.

Famous people from Kırşehir

* Uğur Mumcu, investigative journalist
* Haşim Kılıç, the President of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from October 22, 2007 until February 10, 2015
* Mustafa Bumin the President of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from May 31, 2000 until June 26, 2005
* Lütfi Müfit Özdeş, politician
* Osman Bölükbaşı, politician
* Deniz Bölükbaşı, politician
* Nezaket Ekici, artist
* Muharrem Ertaş, folk musician
* Şemsi Yastıman, folk musician
* Neşet Ertaş, folk poet
* Ahi Evren, preacher - died in Kırşehir
* Caca Bey, politician
* Asik Pasa, preacher, Turkish poet
* Silahdar Seyyid Mehmed Pasha 18th century Ottoman Grand Vizier
* Yasin Öztekin, footballer
* Nuri Şahin, footballer

Gallery

File:Ahi_Evran_Mosque_-_panoramio_(1).jpg, Ahi Evran Tomb front view
File:Ahi_Evran_Mosque_-_panoramio.jpg, Ahi Evran Tomb side view
File:Apple_Farm_-_panoramio.jpg, Apple farm in Kırşehir
File:Cugun.jpg, Cügün (Cogun) lake
File:Üçayak Gesamt.jpg, The ruins of the Üçayak Byzantine Church
File:Kentpark_at_Night_-_panoramio.jpg, View of Kent Park at night
File:Kent_Park_-_panoramio.jpg, View of the city during the day
File:Winter_in_Hilla_Park_-_panoramio.jpg, Winter in Hilla Park

Notes

References

*

District governor's official website

External links

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Kirsehir Portal

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirsehir

Roman sites in Turkey
Districts of Kırşehir Province