Seyitgazi is a town and district of

Eskişehir Province Eskişehir Province ( tr, ) is a province in northwestern Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Bilecik to the northwest, Kütahya to the west, Afyon to the southwest, Konya to the south, Ankara to the east, and Bolu to the north. The provincia ...

in the

Central Anatolia The Central Anatolia Region ( tr, İç Anadolu Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Ankara. Other big cities are Konya, Kayseri, Eskişehir, Sivas, and Aksaray. Located in Central Turkey, it is borde ...

region of

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 ...

. The central town of Seyitgazi lies at a distance of towards the south from the province capital of

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...

. According to 2010 census, population of the district is 16,222 of which 2,890 live in the town of Seyitgazi. The district covers an area of , and the average elevation is . Apart from the central town of Seyitgazi, the district has two dependent townships with own municipalities. These are Kırka and Doğançayır. The district also has 46 villages.

Places of interest

The town occupies the site of the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

city of

Nakoleia Nakoleia ( el, Νακώλεια and Νακόλεια) also known as Nakolaion (Νακώλαιον), Latinized as Nacolia or Nacolea, was an ancient and medieval city in Phrygia. It corresponds to present-day Seyitgazi, Eskişehir Province in th ...

, and was named after the 8th-century Muslim saint ('' seyyid'') and warrior Battal Gazi, who fell in a battle nearby in 740. A

complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

( tr, külliye) dedicated to Battal Gazi and containing his tomb, a mosque, a

medrese Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

, cells and ceremonial rooms for

dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage i ...

es as well as charitable services for the community such as kitchens and a bakery was built in 1208 on a hill overlooking the town by Ümmühan Hatun, wife of the Seljuk sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev I and further extended in 1511 by the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II. The shrine and the adjoining complex remain popular with local as well as foreign visitors.

Archaeological discoveries

In August 2019, researchers head by Prof. Murat Türkteki announced the discovery of two skeletons dating back about 5,000 years in the same sarcophagus in Early Bronze Age settlement Küllüoba. Excavators assumed that one of the skeletons was a 13-year-old girl and other was a man in his late 30s. In August 2020, archaeologists head by Prof. Murat Türktaki revealed a 5,000-year-old paint palette made of stone in the Seyitgazi district at the Küllüoba site. According to Türktaki, this palette was used for painting dishes. In March 2021, discovery of the

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

sarcophagus which is 1.5 meters tall and 33 centimeters wide in the Seyitgazi district at the Küllüoba site was announced by the municipal workers while construction work.

Notes

References

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External links

District governor's official website

District municipality's official website

Map of Seyitgazi district

Many pictures of the Battal Gazi complex and Seyitgazi village
Towns in Turkey Eskişehir Populated places in Eskişehir Province Districts of Eskişehir Province {{Eskişehir-geo-stub