The Tombstones of Ahlat in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
are famous for their dimensions and design.
Ahlat is a
ilçe
The 81 provinces of Turkey are divided into 973 districts (''ilçeler''; sing. ''ilçe''). In the early Turkish Republic and in the Ottoman Empire, the corresponding unit was the ''kaza''.
Most provinces bear the same name as their respectiv ...
(district) center in
Bitlis Province
Bitlis Province ( tr, , , ku, Parêzgeha Bidlîsê) is a province of eastern Turkey, located to the west of Lake Van. The province is considered part of Western Armenia by Armenians. The province is considered part of Turkish Kurdistan and has ...
at the
Lake Van
Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...
shore. The tombstones are in and around the citadel of Ahlat at about .
The history of the city dates back to 900 BC, the
Urartu
Urartu (; Assyrian: ',Eberhard Schrader, ''The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament'' (1885), p. 65. Babylonian: ''Urashtu'', he, אֲרָרָט ''Ararat'') is a geographical region and Iron Age kingdom also known as the Kingdom of V ...
era
but the tombstones are from the medieval age. Although the tombstones are known as
Seljukid
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
era, according to the governorship of Ahlat they belong to the era of the
Shah-Armens
The Shah-Armens (lit. 'Kings of Armenia', tr, Ermenşahlar), also known as Ahlatshahs (lit. 'Rulers of Ahlat', tr, Ahlatşahlar), was a Turkoman Sunni Muslim Anatolian beylik founded after the Battle of Manzikert (1071) and centred in Ahlat on t ...
,
Ayyubid dynasty, the
Mongol
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...
and the
Safavid eras. These periods correspond to the 12th-15th centuries. The most important tombstones are in the cemeteries known as ''Harabe şehir'' cemetery, ''Taht'ı Suleyman'' cemetery, ''Kırklar'' cemetery, ''Kale'' cemetery, ''Merkez'' cemetery and ''Meydanlık'' cemetery. Among these, only the Kale cemetery has Ottoman tombs .
Ahlat tombsones blog
/ref>
World Heritage Status
This site was added to the UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
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 ...
Tentative List on February 25, 2000, in the Cultural category.[Unesco page](_blank)
/ref>
References
{{Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey
Bitlis Province
History of Bitlis Province
Ahlat
Cemeteries in Turkey
World Heritage Tentative List for Turkey