As we mention before, Eastern Mediterranean has an important role on development of Christianity. The southern region of Turkey has a monumental monastery. This monastery was built by St.Simone;

St.Simone who was the founder of Stylite cult had a monastery built in 6th century AD. He tough the Stylite cult in this theocratic school. It was a theocratic school with various buildings inside such as cistern and church. Also St.Simon secluded himself there by sitting on a platform 10 meter high for 45 days. It was a center of historical cult in Christianity.

Hatay province has a lot of sites that have historical importance such as St.Pierre church.

Caves are one of impressive natural structures of this landscape. They all have different features. This cave has also its outstanding features like having a historical background.

It is one of the biggest caves of Turkey. It is fourth in the world. There are remains of settlement from late Roman and Byzantine period. It was one of the places where early Christians lived.

It is in border of Kastamonu province of Black Sea. Black Sea region has a lot of caves due to the natural structure of Turkey.

The ancient way through Constantinople from Black Sea region consists of many important ancient site. All of them had strategical and military importance in the route. One of them was Prusias ad Hypium ancient site;

This site was constructed in 3rd century AD with the name of Hypios. Then the name of the city had changed as Kieros. When Btyhnian King Prusias I conquered the site, the name of the site had changed as Prusias in the name of the king. Many monumental pieces were built in the site in various periods including aqueducts from Roman period.

It is located between Marmara and Western Black Sea. It seems that it was as important as Ephesus. Also it had a military base in the site.

Turkish Northern Eastern region was an Urartu domination field. The hill that this fortress was built was former Urartu settlement field. There used to be Urartu graves and an Urartu cistern.

It was built in 1200’s. Then Romans and Byzantines used this fortress. Archeological works proved us that it had used for a long time. Walls of the fortress and some sections of the fortress are still standing.

It i located in Kars province of Turkey. It is one of the worth sight seeing places.

Trabzon was an important region for Christianity. St.Anna church was one of three oldest church. It was built between 884 and 885 AD. In addition to this period, there were icons from other periods of Byzantines.

This is the region of Greek Pontus state. We can see more monumental churches in the city and region.

As we mention , this landscape has multi-cultural structure and we can come across traces of this culture everywhere in Turkey. This cultural structure has a valuable and priceless heritage.

A church was constructed in Black Sea region. Its name was Archangelos church. It was dedicated to head angels especially to Michael. It had a classical church plan. The period it was constructed was Byzantine period. But it is certain that it had many reconstructions in history so the church had lost its originality. Through 19th century, it lost its function as church and it was used as prison according to historical sources.

It is located in Ayancık county of Sinop province. Unfortunately due to the short of archeological works, we don’t have sufficient information on here. It is certain that it had an important role on local people’s life.

Eastern Anatolia is the landscape that hides very valuable heritage. One of them is a church that was built on a peak of a hill. Due to its location, it was named as fortress by local people.

According to the historical sources, it was built around 1000 AD. It was a big church and it has an archeological value. We don’t have sufficient information on the site due to insufficient archeological work. It was collapsed by an earthquake. There are similar buildings in Ani ancient site and Armenia.

This church is in Erzurum province and it is the heritage of Turkish culture.

Turkey is the country of underground treasures as much as historical treasures. Caves are important components of Turkish landscape. There is an interesting cave structure in Eastern Turkey ( Elazığ).

Ice cave is one of the interesting caves of Turkey. There are ice structures on the walls of the cave. It has its own natural ecosystem. It is one of a few cave systems in the world. Those ice structures are sold in summer months.

Surely a worth seeing place……

Urartu civilization is one of the main characters of this landscape. Eastern Anatolia was the main land of Urartu state. One of the masterpieces of Urartu is in Elazığ province of Turkey. This fortress is known as Harput Fortress;

This fortress was built in 8th century BC by Urartu State. After Urartu period, Persians dominated the region. Byzantine Empire had dominated the region till 11th century AD and it was known as Kharpete. Then Turkish domination had arrived the region.

According to the legends, there used to be a lack of water while constructing the fortress. So Urartu king ordered to use milk in soil mixture.

The fortress was built as a settlement complex inside the building. The original features were kept despite of many reconstructions in history.

It is one of the historical heritages of Turkey.

Sinop is one of the important destinations in Black Sea region. It was named as Sinope in the ancient era. Also it is known as home of philosopher Diogenes. In addition to those features, Balatlar church complex which was located nearby the northern end of peninsula was an important religious center in ancient era.

This building was used as bath in earlier ages (around 3rd or 4th century AD). It is known as it was turned into a church in 5th century AD. This church was decorated with various buildings to form a complex. The sacred relic of the church was the piece of Jesus’ cross. Byzantines were here, we know this by the existence of Byzantine coin. It was used till Ottoman period.

This church complex was the sample of typical Roman and Byzantine religious center. With its complex, it was also a settlement area.