Justinianus I was the emperor who left a big heritage for today’s world. He gave a new order to East Roman Empire. He decorated New Rome (Constantinople). In addition to his services to East Roman Empire, he had a legendary project; Codex Justinianus.

Emperor Justinianus collected the Roman laws in 6th century AD. This was the first constitution of the world. He believed in force of law in order to organize the public so he decided to use the previous laws and also he added some codes for necessary situations. He made the first arrangement of civil code. Also he became his project true with a commission.

He was the revolutionary emperor of East Roman Empire.

Monasteries are important building of this landscape because their existence prove that this landscape is the junction point of all cultures in the world. There is a monastery that is older than Sümela Monastery in Trabzon (Eastern Black Sea region). Its name is Vazelon Monastery. Despite of its age, it isn’t very well known by public. This is the story;

We are going back to 270 AD. A Greek community immigrated to this part of peninsula. They built a magnificent monastery in the wild nature of Black Sea. According to traditional belief, monasteries were mostly built in a silent and far points of settlement areas. The priests were secluded themselves and they were spending their whole life for praying god. Vazelon was a this sort of facility. It had been used till 1920. It means that monasteries were built for a long lifetime. It had been restored for several times in history.

It is one of the worth visiting sight seeing places of Turkey. Although it is a ruin, it is still standing against time and nature. The archeological and architectural works will be done in the monastery.

Talas underground city is an important sightseeing place for Turkey. It is located in Kayseri county of Turkey. Although Central Anatolia has many underground cities, Talas underground city has some outstanding features. This is the story;

This underground city was constructed in Byzantine period. It had some outstanding features rather than other underground cities. Firstly it was one of the biggest underground cities of the region, secondly it was the only underground city that had a cistern inside. It was built 1300 years ago. There were praying rooms in the underground city.

As we always mention, Turkey hosts many civilizations and different cultures. Georgian style churches are one of the a wide cultural heritage items in this landscape. I will introduce you our cultural heritage building ” Monastery of Tekkale” or ” four churches” as a local name. This is the story of four churches;

Georgian King David had a church complex built in 961. This complex was formed of four churches.They were built in eastern Black sea region. It served as a religious school. This complex had every sort facilities such as seminar halls and chapels. Its architecture was so impressive that mosaics would seem great even 1000 years later. Its location was in a similar place like other monasteries as they were built on the skirts of mountains. By the time , it was forgotten and ruined because of various reasons. The roof systems had gone but the glorious shape of the buildings has been staying for centuries.

Phokaia ancient site is a very special site although it isn’t known very well. Phokaia ancient site is located in Foça district of İzmir. The story of the ancient site is as follows;

Phokaia was built around second half of 3000 BC. There were various periods in settlement history. The site was surrounded by city walls. Local engineers built the theater between 340 and 330 BC. Mosaics and ceramics were used in buildings. It was so big that there was a huge population in the site. A historical event became true in 547 BC. Persian attacked Phokaia and ruined the city. The most outstanding feature of the site is that the earlier iron&steel workstations were built. So many items that are made of iron and steel

Phokaia ancient site was constructed on a huge area so some hints on ancient Foça are under the modern city.

Kyme ancient site was one of the most important sites of Aegean region. It is located on the way of İzmir. Let’s listen to the story of Kyme;

Kyme was constructed around 2000 BC by Greek communities. It was founded on fertile area. So agriculture was one of the major economical activities. The another major economical activity was marine trade. The city architecture was also worth evaluating. The founders decorated the site with a marvelous architecture. The reliefs had details of crafts in the city. It was one of a few city states that printed coins. It was also one of dioceses in ancient era. It was a port city. Also olive oil factory was founded. There had been resident till 13th century AD.

Kyme ancient site was constructed in a wide area so some items were lost due to urbanization. Some pieces were transferred to abroad in 19th century. The items give us valuable data on details of life in Kyme.

Water has been most important element of human being life since we have been here. Earlier settlements were founded nearby river banks in history. Transferring water became an vital issue in the past. The title of this article became a smart solution for this issue. Here is the story;

We are going back to 330 AD. New Rome (Constantinople) was founding but there was an important issue for this new city; water sources. So East Romans decided to develop a project in order to transfer water to New Rome. A water transfer line was being constructed. The water source was 242 km. far away from the capital. They constructed aqueducts and water transfer stations. Thracian mountains were the water source ( Same situation is available today.). This line was around 242 km long. The construction finished around 345 AD. So this engineering wonder became true and New Rome or Constantinople became real capital. The system was damaged due to some campaigns in some periods.

Water has been main element of human being life for centuries. So human being has been resided nearby river banks. Roman Empire developed wise projects for water transfer. Legacy of Roman engineering world had a deep impact on developing this sort of projects.

Today we have similar issues in the world. Fresh water is required to have a balanced life.

We have a different title here. I will give brief information on a religion that was born from a gay love: Religion of Antinous. This is the story;

We are going back to 123 AD and we are in Claudiopolis (today’s Bolu county of Turkey). Roman Emperor Hadrian was in campaign to supervise the military bases in Roman Empire. Emperor saw a soldier and he fell in love with him. That is Antinous. Antinous was the young soldier and he accompanied the Emperor in his campaigns. But this love story didn’t end happy. Antinous was drown in a river and he died. According to conspiracy theories, he committed suicide in order to give his life to old Emperor or he was murdered. After that event, Emperor got so upset that he organized a belief system. Antinous became a god and temples were built in the name of him. The memorial days were held for him. Emperor Hadrian worshiped him.

Homosexuality was the fact of Roman Empire. There are many gay love stories in ancient era. But this one made a difference by becoming a religion.

When you have an opportunity to visit Alanya, the most outstanding sightseeing place is Damlataş Cave. This sightseeing place is discovered by a chance and it is thought that it was formed between 20000 BC and 15000 BC. It has an original ecological system so the patients visit here to cure some illness’. The patients should get a report for this procedure.

It is one of the biggest caves of Turkey and it is the first cave that is served for tourism.