ISPARTA TURKEY

Isparta

Prof. Dr. Turan YazganEthnography Museum

Themuseum, located at the entrance to the Gökçay Recreation Area, isTürkiye´s largest and the only museum of ethnographic carpets and rugs, withan exhibit hall that is both horizontal and vertical. In addition to more than3,000 traditional carpets and rugs, the museum includes traditional clothingthat reflects the folkloric characteristics of the city and the Turkish world,along with traditional clothes, old household appliances, firearms andagricultural tools, a Yoruk tent, traditional sofa covers, weaving looms,earthenware jars, and the distilling apparatus used in the productionof rose oil. After visiting the 10-floor museum, you can enjoy a viewof Isparta from the Watch Tower.

Cittaslow Towns

In Türkiye, 18cities have received the title of “cittaslow” (slowcity). Two are in Isparta: Yalvaç and Eğirdir.

Eğirdiris a district rich in history and nature, with Eğirdir Lake andits constantly changing colours. There is also Can Island, thetitle deed of which was bestowed upon Mustafa Kemal Atatürk bythe people of Eğirdir, and the Kasnak Oak and SweetGum Forests which are rarely seen in the world, as well as the appleand the Apollon Butterfly, only seen in Eğridir.

Yalvaç, a cultural spot that has hosted manycivilizations since prehistoric times, lets its visitors live almost 5,000years in one day. A visit to Yalvaç, which was once perhaps the busiestgeography in Anatolia as a location where all roads andpassengers met, takes you on a rich and delightful journey extending fromtraditional life to precious handicrafts that have been forgotten, and fromhistorical ruins to their present-day cultural legacies.

Islands in Eğirdir Lake: Yeşil Island and Can Island

Yeşil Island (Yeşil Ada), 1.5 km from the Eğirdir citycentre, preserves its authenticity with stone-foundation wooden houses, narrowstreets, and small fishermen’s shelters on an area of nine hectares. YeşilIsland, formerly known as NIS among local residents, drawsattention with a plethora of home boarding accommodations and fish restaurants.The Hagia Stefanos Church, considered sacred by Christians, is alsolocated on the island.

Can Island (Can Ada) is a colourful islet of 7,000 squaremetres, set between Eğirdir and Yeşil Island. Thereis no urban development on the island. The island was presented as a gift toAtatürk during his visit to Eğirdir.

Eğirdir Castle

Althoughthere is no definitive agreement on the construction date of EğirdirCastle (Eğirdir Kalesi), consisting of inner and outer structures, it isknown that today’s remains are from the Byzantine period. Thefortress walls, repaired at various times, were built with rows of bricks andstones. There are residences on the fortification walls of the fortress, whichis located on the peninsula extending into Eğirdir Lake.

Adada Ancient City

The nameof the Adada Ancient City (Adada Antik Kenti), located in thedistrict of Sütçüler, 89 km from Isparta, is first mentioned in aninscription from a treaty made with the city of Termessos, datingfrom the BCE 2nd century. It is also known that mercenaries from Adadalı servedin the armies of the Hellenistic kings. The city experienced its brightest daysunder the Roman Empire.  The ruins of temples, a theatre,official buildings, a church and other structures still stand in thecity. The Temple of Trajan is among the most well-known of thetemples in the Pisidia Region. The temple of Emperors and ZeusMegistos-Serapis indicates the existence of the Zeus Megistos and Serapis cultsin the city. The building dates from the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries.Another important structure in the city is an open-air meeting venue with20-tiered seating rows.

Apollonia Ancient City

Theancient city located in the district centre in Uluborlu,called Apollonia from the Phrygian Period untilthe end of the Byzantine Period, was founded by Seleukos I.Within the ancient city, the ruins of the Cirimbolu Aqueducts and UluborluCastle are worth visiting. The structures were built in 1869-1872 tobring the waters of Kavil Spring from Kapı Mountain tothe castle.

Pisidia Antiokheia Ancient City

There areruins from the Roman and Byzantine civilizationsin this ancient city, established during the Hellenistic Period anda kilometre north of Yalvaç District. The Ancient Cityof Antiokheia (Antiokheia Antik Kenti) is where Saint Paul,having played an important role in the spread of Christianity, preached hisfirst documented sermon. There is a church dedicated to Saint Paul,and religious services can be held with special permission.

ManyChristian tourists come here every year on pilgrimages. For this reason, theancient city, and the Church of Saint Paul are important amongthe religious tourism centres in our country.

The Templeof Augustus, churches, a theatre, the Roman Bath, Tiberius Square, the Propylon,the Monumental Fountain, Pillar Street andaqueducts in the ancient city are some of the structures that have beenpartially preserved up to the present time.

Men Sanctuary

Fivekilometres to the southeast of Antiokheia lies the importantsanctuary of Men, one of the most respected gods of the Phrygia and Pisidia regions,starting from the early periods of the First Age. In themiddle of the area, surrounded by a Temenos wall withmoon-shaped reliefs and inscriptions, is the Temple of Men. Mesopotamian inorigin, Men was believed to spread goodness and heal with the mysterious powerof the Moon.

Yalvaç Museum

Researchin the ancient city of Pisidia Antiokheia,a focus of archaeological study for about 150 years, resulted in theestablishment of a museum in Yalvaç in the 1900s. Artifacts,unearthed during excavations conducted by scientists from the United States,were moved to the high school building in Yalvaç at the end of the excavationseason. A warehouse was subsequently built for additional artifacts unearthedin Yalvaç and the surrounding villages, even though the excavations concludedin 1947. For some time, artifacts were exhibited in Yalvaç Library,but it became clear that another solution was necessary. Construction began in1963 and the museum was opened to visitors in 1966 as the Yalvaç Museum(Yalvaç Müzesi).

Eğirdir Hızır Bey Mosque

Theconstruction date of Hızır Bey Mosque (Hızır Bey Cami), also knownas the Grand Mosque, is unknown. However, it is believed that HızırBey had the walls built in masonry form with packed dirt roofs. With acapacity of 3,000 worshippers, the mosque featured a snow well inside, todischarge snow accumulated on the roof in winter. The roof of the mosque waspartly open. The mosque was destroyed in 1814 by a fire, but rebuilt inaccordance with its original style by Eğirdir mutesellim and guardian YılanlıoğluŞen Ali Ağa.

Dündarbey Madrasa

Dündarbey Madrasa (Dündarbey Medresesi) was built as an innin 1237 during the reign of Seljuk Sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev II.It was turned into a madrasa by Hamidoglu Dündar Bey in 1301.The madrasa has two floors and there is a courtyard in the middle; thecourtyard has 30 cells. The large stone door at the madrasa’s gate issurrounded by Seljuk-style engravings in geometric shapes.

Hagia Stefanos (Yeşil Island) Church

Locatedon Yeşil Ada in Eğirdir district, the churchextends east west and has a rectangular layout plan. The church, with threenaves and apses, was built in the second half of the 19th century.The side walls were put up with rubble stones, and there is a protrudingsemi-circular apse on the east wall of the building. The windowsills aresurrounded by white marble blocks, and the interiors have stucco decorations.The church was included in the restoration studies of the Lake DistrictResearch Project; the outer walls were rebuilt and the roof covering andinterior wooden elements were also renewed.

Gelendost Ertokuş Inn

Alsoknown as Gelendost Inn (Gelendost Hanı), Ertokuş Inn(Ertokuş Hanı), in the Gelendost district, is on theeastern side of Eğirdir Lake and also on the historicalcaravan route connecting Eğirdir to Konya.

Built ona rectangular plan session area extending in north-south, the inn comprises acourtyard and indoor shelter sections. The courtyard is in the middle of thesouthern facade and features a pressed arched gate opening on the crown door,which appears to be designed in a deep cove with pointed arches. It issurrounded by semi-open spaces covered with pointed cradle vaults, lined upopposite each other along the eastern and western edges.

The innwas built by Mübârizeddîn Ertokuş in 1203-04, according to itsfour-line marble inscription in Thuluth calligraphy on the crown of theclosed/shelter section.

Süleyman Demirel Democracy and Development Museum

Themuseum is in İslamköy, 24 km from the Isparta citycentre. The structures, built in the form of a social complex where the museumis included, are on an area of 16,000 square metres. The social complexfeatures a mosque, the primary museum building, the library building, lodgingand warehouse buildings. Exhibits in the various halls pertain to the life andexperience of Süleyman Demirel, who served as Türkiye´s primeminister and president for many years. The displayed items include gifts givento Demirel on domestic and international trips, memorialphotos and plaques of appreciation, cartoons from different periods drawn bylocal artists, and photographs of the ground breakings and opening of importantprojects in Türkiye´s development. Thousands of works in the library andarchive departments of the museum are also made available to researchers.