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İznik is a town and an administrative district in the
Province of Bursa Bursa Province ( tr, ) is a province in Turkey along the Sea of Marmara coast in northwestern Anatolia. It borders Balıkesir to the west, Kütahya to the south, Bilecik and Sakarya to the east, Kocaeli to the northeast and Yalova to the north ...
, Turkey. It was historically known as Nicaea ( el, Νίκαια, ''Níkaia''), from which its modern name also derives. The town lies in a fertile basin at the eastern end of Lake İznik, bounded by ranges of hills to the north and south. The town is only southeast of Istanbul but by road it is around the
Gulf of İzmit Gulf of İzmit (Turkish language, Turkish: ''İzmit Körfezi''), also referred to as Izmit Bay, is a bay at the easternmost edge of the Sea of Marmara, in Kocaeli Province, Turkey. The gulf takes its name from the city of İzmit. Other cities a ...
. It is by road from
Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...
. The town is situated with its west wall rising from the lake itself, providing both protection from siege from that direction, as well as a source of supplies which would be difficult to cut off. The lake is large enough that it cannot be blockaded from the land easily, and the city was large enough to make any attempt to reach the harbour from shore-based siege weapons very difficult. The city was surrounded on all sides by of walls about high. These were in turn surrounded by a double ditch on the land portions, and also included over 100 towers in various locations. Large gates on the three landbound sides of the walls provided the only entrance to the city. Today the walls are pierced in many places for roads, but much of the early work survives and as a result it is a tourist destination. The town has a population of about 15,000. It has been a district center of Bursa Province since 1930. It was in the district of Kocaeli between 1923 and 1927 and was a township of Yenişehir (bound to Bilecik before 1926) district between 1927 and 1930. The town was an important producer of highly decorated fritware vessels and tiles in the 16th and 17th centuries. The First Council of Nicaea (; grc, Νίκαια ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the
Bithynia Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Pa ...
n city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor
Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea ...
in AD 325.


Etymology

İznik derives from the Ancient Greek name of the city, Nicaea ( el, Νίκαια), prefixed with εἰς, meaning 'to' or 'into'.


History

In 1331,
Sultan Orhan Orhan Ghazi ( ota, اورخان غازی; tr, Orhan Gazi, also spelled Orkhan, 1281 – March 1362) was the second bey of the Ottoman Beylik from 1323/4 to 1362. He was born in Söğüt, as the son of Osman I. In the early stages of his re ...
captured the city from the Byzantines and for a short period the town became the capital of the expanding Ottoman emirate. The large church of Hagia Sophia in the centre of the town was converted into a mosque and became known as the Orhan Mosque. A madrasa and baths were built nearby. In 1334 Orhan built a mosque and an '' imaret'' (soup kitchen) just outside the Yenisehir gate (Yenişeh Kapısı) on the south side of the town. The Moroccan traveller
Ibn Battuta Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berbers, Berber Maghrebi people, Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, ...
stayed in Iznik at the end of 1331 soon after the capture of the town by Orhan. According to Ibn Battuta, the town was in ruins and only inhabited by a small number of people who were in the service of the sultan. Within the city walls were gardens and cultivated plots with each house surrounded by an orchard. The town produced fruit, walnuts, chestnuts and large sweet grapes. A census in 1520 recorded 379 Muslim and 23 Christian households while a census taken a century later in 1624 recorded 351 Muslim and 10 Christian households. Assuming five members for each household, these figures suggest that the population was around 2,000. Various estimates in the 18th and 19th centuries give similar numbers. The town was poor and the population small even when the ceramic production was at its peak during the second half of the 16th century. The Byzantine city is estimated to have had a population of 20,000–30,000 but in the Ottoman period the town was never prosperous and occupied only a small fraction of the walled area. The English clergyman
John Covel John Covel (2 April 1638 – 19 December 1722) was a clergyman and scientist who became Master of Christ's College, Cambridge and vice-chancellor of the University. Diplomacy Born at Horningsheath, Suffolk, the son of William Covel, John C ...
visited Iznik in 1677 and found that only a third of the town was occupied. In 1745 the English traveller Richard Pococke reported that Iznik was no more than a village. A succession of visitors described the town in unflattering terms. After his visit in 1779, the Italian archaeologist Domenico Sestini wrote that Iznik was nothing but an abandoned town with no life, no noise and no movement. In 1797
James Dallaway The Rev. Prebendary James Dallaway FSA (20 February 1763 – 6 June 1834) was an English antiquary, topographer, and miscellaneous writer. He is known for his account of Constantinople and the Greek islands, published in 1797; and his county h ...
described Iznik as "a wretched village of long lanes and mud walls...". The town was seriously damaged in 1921 during the
Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, ota, گرب جابهاسی, Garb Cebhesi) in Turkey, and the Asia Minor Campaign ( el, Μικρασιατική Εκστρατεία, Mikrasiatikí Ekstrateía) or the Asia Minor Catastrophe ( el, Μικ ...
; the population became refugees and many historical buildings were damaged or destroyed.


Pottery and tiles

The town became more important with the development a pottery and tile making industry during the Ottoman period in the 16th century, known as the ''İznik Çini''. Iznik ceramic tiles were used to decorate many of the mosques in Istanbul designed by Mimar Sinan. However, this industry declined in the 17th century and İznik became a mainly agricultural minor town in the area when a major railway bypassed it in the 19th century.


Main sights

A number of monuments were erected by the Ottomans in the period between the conquest in 1331 and 1402 when the town was sacked by Timur. Among those that have survived are: *
Hacı Özbek Mosque Hacı is the Turkish spelling of the title and epithet Hajji. It may refer to: People * Hacı I Giray (died 1466), founder and the first ruler of the Crimean Khanate * Hacı Ahmet ( 1566), purported Turkish cartographer * Hacı Arif Bey (1831–1 ...
(1333). This mosque was built only three years after the conquest. The portico on the west side of the building was demolished in 1940 to widen the road. *
Yeşil Mosque of Iznik Yeşil (green in turkish) may refer to: * Mahmut Yıldırım (born 1953), Turkish contract killer also known as "Yeşil" * Samed Yeşil (born 1994), German-Turkish footballer * Yeşilırmak River Yeşilırmak (literally "green river") is a Turkish ...
Green Mosque (1378–1391). The mosque was built for
Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasha Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasha ( ota, چاندارلی قرة خليل خير الدين پاشا) was the first Grand Vizier of Murad I's reign. He was also technically the first in Ottoman history who held the title "Grand Vizier" (a ...
, the first
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 ...
of the Ottoman Empire. It is located near the Lefke Gate on the east side of the town. It was damaged in 1922 during the Greco-Turkish War and restored between 1956 and 1969. * Hagia Sophia, also known as Aya Sofya, ( el, Ἁγία Σοφία, " Holy Wisdom") is a Byzantine-era former
church building A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th thro ...
which was built by Justinian I in the middle of the city in the 6th century. * Nilüfer Hatun Soup Kitchen (Nilüfer Hatun Imareti) (1388). The building was abandoned for many years but was restored in 1955 and is now a museum. * Süleyman Pasa Madrasa (mid 14th century). This is one of the two surviving madrasas in the town. It was restored in the 19th century and again in 1968. * Mausoleum of Çandarli Hayreddin Pasa (14th century). The main room contains fifteen sarcophagi. A lower room contains three more sarcophagi including that of Hayreddin Pasha. The mausoleum is located in a cemetery outside the Lefke gate to the east of the town. Several monuments survived into the 20th century but were destroyed during the
Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, ota, گرب جابهاسی, Garb Cebhesi) in Turkey, and the Asia Minor Campaign ( el, Μικρασιατική Εκστρατεία, Mikrasiatikí Ekstrateía) or the Asia Minor Catastrophe ( el, Μικ ...
. These include: * Church of the Koimesis/Dormition (6th–8th century but rebuilt after the 1065 earthquake). This was the only church in the town that was not transformed into a mosque. It was decorated with 11th century Byzantine mosaics of which photographs survive. * Eşrefzâde Rumi Mosque (15th century). Eşrefzâde Rumi was married to the daughter of
Hacı Bayram-ı Veli Haji Bayram Veli or Wali ( ar, الحاج بيرم ولي) (1352–1430) was an Ottoman poet, Sufi saint, and the founder of the Bayrami Order.Levine, Lynn A. (editor) (2006) "Hacı Bayram Mosque (Hacı Bayram Camii)" ''Frommer's Turkey'' ...
. He founded a
sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
sect and after his death in 1469–70 his tomb became a pilgrimage site. The mosque has been restored and the tomb is decorated with Iznik tiles. * Seyh Kutbeddin Mosque and Mausoleum (15th century). The mosque and mausoleum have been rebuilt.


Sport

The
İznik Ultramarathon İznik Ultramarathon, shortly İznik Ultra, is an international trail running ultramarathon event that takes place at İznik town of Bursa Province in northwestern Turkey. It was established in 2012 with the first race held on April 14-15. Lasti ...
is a trail endurance running event that takes place around Lake İznik in April since 2012 as the country's longest single-stage athletics competition.


International relations

İznik is twinned with: * Jingdezhen, China * Khulo, Georgia *
Nikaia Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and seve ...
, Greece * Pithiviers, France * Spandau (Berlin), Germany * Talas, Kyrgyzstan * Tutin, Serbia


References


Sources

* * * * First published in 1986, . * * * * *


Further reading

* * *


External links

*
Iznik
ArchNet. Information on the historic buildings in the town.
300+ photographs of the town and sights
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iznik Cities in Turkey Roman towns and cities in Turkey Populated places in Bursa Province Districts of Bursa Province World Heritage Tentative List for Turkey Cittaslow