Nevşehir (from the Persian compound ''Now-shahr'' meaning "new city"), formerly Neapolis ( Ancient Greek: Νεάπολις) and Muşkara, is a largely modern city and the capital district of Nevşehir Province in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. According to the 2020 census, the population of the city is 82,110. It is from the capital Ankara and lies within the historical region of Cappadocia. The town lies at an elevation of and has a continental climate, with heavy snow in winter and great heat in summer. Although Nevşehir is close to the underground cities, fairy chimneys, monasteries,

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 and rock-hewn churches of Cappadocia, and has a few hotels, the modern town is not itself a tourist centre. In 2015 a huge underground city was discovered underneath its centre following demolition works intended to clear the central hillside of ramshackle modern housing. Founded in 2007, Nevşehir University was renamed

Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University (), commonly referred to as Nevşehir University, is a public institute of higher education established in 2007 located in Nevşehir, Turkey. Affiliations The university is a member of the Caucasus Univer ...

in 2013. Nevşehir Kapadokya Airport (NAV) is 30 kilometres northwest of the town.The inter-city bus station is about 6 km southwest of the city centre. Two planned high-speed rail services should eventually link Nevşehir to Antalya, Konya,

Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large Industrialisation, industrialised List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is comp ...

and Ankara.

History

Göreme OpenAir Museum Dunkle Kirche 1 11 2004

Prehistory and ancient history

The Hittites first founded the settlement of Nissa on the slopes of Mount Kahveci in the valley of Kızılırmak (the ancient Halys). This town, along with the region, came under the rule of the Assyrian Empire around the 8th century BC, and was subsequently ruled by the Medes and then by the Persians during the reign of emperor

Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...

in 546 BC. In 333 BC, Alexander the Great defeated the Persians and after his death, the surrounding area came under the rule of the dynasty of Ariarathes with Mazaka (present-day

) as its capital. The Cappadocian kingdom became a province- of the Roman empire in the reign of Emperor Tiberius.

Medieval history

The so-called underground cities found around Nevşehir may originally have been built to escape persecution by the pagan Roman authorities although others believe they date back to Hittite times. Many of the churches, hewn in the rocks, date from these early years of Christianity. Even when Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of the empire, the caves offered protection for the local people during raids by the Sassanid Persians circa AD 604 and by the Islamic Caliphate from AD 647 onwards. When Iconoclasm became state policy in the Byzantine empire, again the caves around Nevşehir became shelters for those escaping persecution. The castle on the hill in the middle of Nevşehir dates from the Byzantine period, when the region was on the frontline in the (holy) wars against the Islamic Caliphate. At the

Battle of Manzikert The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, theme of Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and th ...

(present-day Malazgirt) in AD 1071, the Byzantine emperor

Romanos IV Romanos IV Diogenes (Greek: Ρωμανός Διογένης), Latinized as Romanus IV Diogenes, was a member of the Byzantine military aristocracy who, after his marriage to the widowed empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa, was crowned Byzantine Em ...

was defeated by the Seljuk Sultan

Alp Arslan Alp Arslan was the second Sultan of the Seljuk Empire and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty. He greatly expanded the Seljuk territory and consolidated his power, defeating rivals to the south and northwest, and his v ...

which led to the occupation of Anatolia by the Seljuks by 1074. Along with the rest of the region, Nevşehir became part of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, then fell under the rule of the Karamanid dynasty in 1328 and finally under Ottoman rule around 1487 AD when it was renamed Muşkara. It remained relatively insignificant until the early 18th century.

Modern history

The present-day city owes its foundation in the so-called

Tulip Age The Tulip Period, or Tulip Era (Ottoman Turkish: لاله دورى, tr, Lâle Devri), is a period in Ottoman history from the Treaty of Passarowitz on 21 July 1718 to the Patrona Halil Revolt on 28 September 1730. This was a relatively peace ...

to the

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 ...

and son-in-law of the Sultan

Ahmed III Ahmed III ( ota, احمد ثالث, ''Aḥmed-i sālis'') was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of Sultan Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687). His mother was Gülnuş Sultan, originally named Evmania Voria, who was an ethnic Greek. He was born at H ...

, Nevşehirli Damad İbrahim Pasha who was born in Muşkara and later took a great interest in its expansion. The small village with only 18 houses, formerly under the administration of the kaza of

Ürgüp Ürgüp ( el, Προκόπιο ''Prokópio,'' or Cappadocian Greek: ''Prokópi'', ota, Burgut Kalesi) is a town and district of Nevşehir Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. It is located in the historical region of Cappadocia, an ...

, was rapidly transformed with the building of mosques (the Kurṣunlu Mosque), fountains, schools, soup kitchens, inns and bath houses, and its name was changed from Muşkara to "Nevşehir" (meaning ''New City'' in Persian and

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...

). In 1730 the grand vizier was assassinated by rebels in İstanbul but by then Nevşehir was firmly established as a town. The present-day city owes its foundation in the so-called

to the

and son-in-law of the Sultan

, Nevşehirli Damad İbrahim Pasha who was born in Muşkara and later took a great interest in its expansion. The small village with only 18 houses, formerly under the administration of the kaza of

, was rapidly transformed with the building of mosques (the :c:, Kurṣunlu Mosque), fountains, schools, soup kitchens, inns and bath houses, and its name was changed from Muşkara to "Nevşehir" (meaning ''New City'' in Persian and

). In 1730 the grand vizier was assassinated by rebels in İstanbul but by then Nevşehir was firmly established as a town. According to the Ottoman General Census of 1881/82-1893, the kaza of Nevşehir had a total population of 39,822, consisting of 30,370 Muslims, 8,918 Ottoman Greeks, Greeks, 477 Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenians, 36 Catholic Church, Catholics and 21

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

. Under the terms of the

Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations The Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations, also known as the Lausanne Convention, was an agreement between the Greece, Greek and Turkey, Turkish governments signed by their representatives in Lausanne on 30 January 19 ...

in 1923, the Turkish speaking Greek Orthodox community ( Karamanlis) of Nevşehir was exchanged for Muslims from Osheni, Shak and Revani villages of

Kesriye Kastoria ( el, Καστοριά, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria regional unit, in the geographic region of Macedonia. It is situated on a promontory on the wes ...

(today's Οινόη, Κομνηνάδες and Διποταμία villages of Kastoria, Western Macedonia, Greece). NevsehirKalesi

Economy

The economy of Nevşehir is largely characterized by agriculture as well as tourism.Activities in Nevşehir
/ref> Nissara

Gallery

File:Nevsehir Kale june 2017 3540.jpg, Nevşehir Castle from exterior File:Nevsehir Kale june 2017 3535.jpg, Interior of Nevsehir Castle File:Nevsehir Kale 2019 1658 panorama.jpg, Nevşehir Castle above the underground city discovered in 2015 File:Nevsehir september 2011 9807.jpg, 18th-century Damat Ibrahim Pasha mosque complex File:Nevsehir Damat Ibrahim Pasha Mosque june 2017 3558.jpg, Interior of Damat Ibrahim Pasha Mosque File:Nevsehir september 2011 9834.jpg, Nevşehir's Damat Ibrahim Pasha complex includes a hamam File:Nevsehir september 2011 9800.jpg, Medrese of Damat Ibrahim Pasha mosque complex File:MeryemAnaKilisesiNevsehir.jpg, Disused Church of the Virgin Mary in Nevşehir File:RumHamamıNevşehir2.jpg, Greek (Rum) bathhouse in Nevşehir File:Nevsehir museum Middle bronze age 2000-1200 BC 2019 1584.jpg, Nevşehir Museum: Middle Bronze Age pot, 2000-1200 BC File:Nevsehir museum 2019 1576.jpg, Nevşehir Museum: Late Byzantine earthenware vessels File:Nevsehir museum Terracotta sarcophagi 3-4th AD 2019 1611.jpg, Nevşehir Museum: terracotta sarcophagi, 3rd-4th centuries AD File:Nevsehir museum 2019 1573.jpg, Nevşehir Museum: ox-drawn cart File:Nevsehir september 2011 9884.jpg, Nevşehir municipality offices and statue of Atatürk File:NevsehirBelediye.jpg, Nevşehir Municipality

Climate

Nevşehir has a

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing som ...

( Köppen climate classification: ''Dsa,'' Trewartha climate classification: ''Dc''), with cold, snowy winters and warm, dry summers. Precipitation occurs throughout the year, with a slight peak in spring.

Notes

References

Activities in Nevşehir
/ref> * *

External links

Nevşehir Travel governor's official website

Nevşehir governor's official website
*
Map of Nevşehir district

Nevşehir municipality's official website

Nevşehir

Some 200 pictures of the town and its sights

Administrative map of Nevşehir district
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nevsehir Cities in Turkey Districts of Nevşehir Province Populated places in Nevşehir Province Archaeological sites in Central Anatolia Roman sites in Turkey Cappadocia