Safranbolu () is a town and district of

Karabük Province Karabük Province ( tr, Karabük ili ) is a landlocked province in the northern part of Anatolia (northern central Turkey), located about north of Ankara, away from Zonguldak and away from Kastamonu. In 2010 it had a population of 227,610. The ...

in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

region of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It is about 9 km north of the city of

Karabük Karabük is a town and the capital district of Karabük Province in the Black Sea Region, Black Sea region of Turkey. According to the 2009 census, population of the city is 108 167. The district covers an area of , and the town lies at an elevati ...

, north of

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

and about 100 km south of the

coast. The town's historic names in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

were ''Theodoroupolis'' (Θεοδωρούπολις, i.e. city of Theodorus or female Theodora) and later ''Saframpolis'' (Σαφράμπολις). Its former names in Turkish were ''Zalifre'' and ''Taraklıborlu''. It was part of

Kastamonu Province Kastamonu Province ( tr, ) is one of the provinces of Turkey, in the Black Sea region to the north of the country. It is surrounded by Sinop to the east, Bartın, Karabük to the west, Çankırı to the south, Çorum to the southeast and the ...

until 1923 and

Zonguldak Province Zonguldak Province ( tr, ) is a province along the western Black Sea coast region of Turkey. The province is 3.481 km in size and has a population of 619,703. Its adjacent provinces are Düzce to the southwest, Bolu to the south, Karabük t ...

between 1923 and 1995. According to the 2000 census, the population of the district was 47,257, of which 31,697 lived in the town of Safranbolu. The district covers an area of , and the town lies at an elevation of . According to the Ottoman General Census of 1881/82-1893, the

kaza A kaza (, , , plural: , , ; ota, قضا, script=Arab, (; meaning 'borough') * bg, околия (; meaning 'district'); also Кааза * el, υποδιοίκησις () or (, which means 'borough' or 'municipality'); also () * lad, kaza , ...

of Safranbolu had a total population of 52,523, consisting of 49,197 Muslims and 3,326

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

. The Old Town preserves many historic buildings, with 1008 registered historical artifacts. These are: 1 private museum, 25

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

s, 5 tombs, 8 historical fountains, 5

Turkish baths A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...

, 3

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...

s, 1 historical clock tower, 1 sundial and hundreds of houses and mansions. Also, there are mounds of ancient settlements, rock tombs and historical bridges. The Old Town is situated in a deep ravine in a fairly dry area in the rain shadow of the mountains. The New Town can be found on the plateau about two kilometers west of the Old Town. The name of the town derives from "

saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent i ...

" and the Greek word ''

polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

'' (πόλις) meaning "city", since Safranbolu was a trading place and a center for growing saffron. Today, saffron is still grown at the village of Davutobası to the east of Safranbolu, with a road distance of 22 kilometres. Safranbolu was added to the list of

UNESCO World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

sites in 1994 due to its well-preserved Ottoman era houses and architecture.

History

It was founded by the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

Gallery

File:20180107_Safranbolu_1946_(39779008132).jpg File:20180107_Safranbolu_1943_(39779017602).jpg File:20180107_Safranbolu_1942_(39810646531).jpg File:20180107_Safranbolu_1940_(39810654251).jpg File:20180107_Safranbolu_1941_(24940479487).jpg File:20180107_Safranbolu_1945_(39101010504).jpg File:20180107_Safranbolu_1993_(39778928982).jpg File:20180107_Safranbolu_2001_(25938148028).jpg File:20180107_Safranbolu_2067_(28031784569).jpg File:Old_Goverment_House_-_2014.10_-_panoramio.jpg

Sister cities

Elabuga Yelabuga (alternative spelling that reflects the Cyrillic spelling: Elabuga; russian: Елабуга; tt-Cyrl, Алабуга, ''Alabuğa'') is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the right bank of the Kama River and east ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

.Elabuga and Safranbolu become sister cities
*

Ohrid Ohrid ( mk, Охрид ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the List of cities in North Macedonia, eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

Notable natives

* Karabaşzade Hüseyin Efendi (Cinci Hoca) - Mentor of Ottoman

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

İbrahim Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

in the 17th century *

Safranbolulu Izzet Mehmet Pasha Safranbolulu Izzet Mehmet Pasha (1743 – 18 September 1812) was a grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire and served from 1794 to 1798. Izzet Mehmet Pasha was born in Safranbolu (today in Karabük Province, Turkey). His uncle was Kapudan Pasha (gr ...

, 18th century Ottoman

Grand Vizier Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first ...

, in office 1794–1798 *

Türker İnanoğlu Türker İnanoğlu (born May 18, 1936) is a Turkish screenwriter, film director and producer. Life He married first the film actress Filiz Akın, and after his divorce Gülşen Bubikoğlu, another former Turkish movie star. He has two children ...

(b. 1936), film producer * Ali Gümüş (1940–2015), President of the Wrestling Commission of the International Sports Press Association (''Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive'', AIPS), journalist and author

Notes

References

External links

*
Governor's official web site

UNESCO World Heritage - Safranbolu

Safranbolu: A Town of Traditional Houses
{{Authority control World Heritage Sites in Turkey Saffron Populated places in Karabük Province Districts of Karabük Province