HATAY TURKEY
02.02.2021
Hatay
TitusVespasianus Tunnel
The tunnel, which was included in the UNESCOWorld Heritage Tentative List in 2014, was started to be built in 69AD by the order of the Roman Emperor Vespasian against life-threatening floodsand high-water. The construction of the tunnel that would circumvent the cityand change the direction of the currents continued until Vespasian’s successorand son Titus’s period 81 AD and it was completed by Antonius Pius in the 2nd centuryAD. Roman legions and slaves worked in the construction of the tunnel, whichwas completely carved into the mountain and is 1380 m long, 7 m high and 6 mwide.
Rock Tombs and Beşikli Cave
The cave is near the Titus Tunnel. Inthe tombs carved into the rocky slopes, there are 12 royal tombs belonging tothe Romans, as well as tombs of the kings’ families and the general public.Just above the Necropolis are the remains of the study roomsthat were used as official offices at that time.
Teknepinar Batiayaz Plateau
The plateau can be reached by a 20 km asphalt roadfrom Antakya and a 17 km stabilized road from Samandağ district.In this plateau village, where history and nature are intertwined, there arecamping and picnic areas full of icy crystal-clear waters, and vegetables andfruits unique to the Mediterranean Region are grown.
Payas Sokollu Mehmet Paşa Complex
The social complex was built in 1574 by MimarSinan on the orders of Sokullu Mehmet Pasha, the vizierof Suleiman the Magnificent. It consists of a caravanserai, abathhouse for men and women, a madrasa, a mosque and a bedesten with 45 shops.
The large courtyard of the caravanserai, which is themost important structure in the complex, is surrounded by domed rooms aroundwhich caravans and passengers spent the night.
Arsuz
Located between the Amanos Mountains andthe Mediterranean, Arsuz stands out with its natural beautiesas well as its historical places, and it is a preferred holiday and tourismcenter especially for the sea. Apart from the restaurants and entertainmentcenters around it, it is an ideal holiday destination for trekking,paragliding, diving, hunting tourism and plateau tourism.
Saint Pierre and Saint Paul Church
The construction of the Orthodox Church on HürriyetCaddesi in Antakya, known as a place where three celestialreligions converge, started in the 1860s, but it was damaged by the earthquakeof 1872 and destroyed.
The church, which was opened for worship in 1900, hasa rectangular plan. The church, whose courtyard is surrounded by porticos, isopen to worship today.
Harbiye
Harbiye, which is the ÇağlayanlarRegion of Hatay, is connected to Antakya with an 8km road. The ancient names of these waterfalls, which flow into the Asiriver, are Kastalia, Pallas and Saramanna.
From the findings obtained in archaeologicalresearches, it is understood that this region has been used as a settlementsince 4500-3000 BC. In the Hellenistic and Roman periods, thewealthy people built large mansions and villas to be used as a recreation areain archaic age, as it is today. Seleucus Nikator I, one of thegenerals of the Macedonian king Alexander the Great,constructed here while building up Antakya.
The Apollon Temple was built duringthe time of Antiochos Epiphanos, one of the Hellenistic kings. Itgained fame with the races and games organized in the name of Apollon inthe whole Near East in ancient times.
According to the Legend of Apollon and Daphne,the Harbiye Waterfalls, where the Nymph Daphne, whoescaped from God of Light Apollon, turned into a laurel tree,and which is still flowing today is believed to be Daphne’s tears.
Samandağ Çevlik
It is an ancient city founded by Selevcos NikatorI. in the plain where Kel Mountain and Musa Mountain embracethe Mediterranean, where Asi gives life in Samandağ district.There are cave settlements in the region dating back to the PaleolithicAge. It is especially known for Titus Tunnel and Rock Tombs.
Samandağ-Çevlik beach, which is one of the longestbeaches in the world with a length of 14 km, is one of the spawning points forsea turtles.
Samandağ Musa Tree
The tree is located in Hıdırbey Village in SamandağDistrict of Hatay. Rumor has it that Hz. Hızır and Hz. Moses metin Samandağ Seaside and climbed the mountain together. When they come to thepoint where this tree is located, Hz. Moses thrust his staffinto the ground, bent down and drank water. When he looked again, he saw thatthe staff was turning green and turned into a sapling. It is believed that thesapling, which came to life from Adam’s wine, has developed over thousands ofyears and taken its present form.
Hatay Archaeological Museum
Findings mostly dating back to the Roman period in theexcavations carried out in Antakya between the years 1932-1939revealed the richness and grandeur of the city. Many artifacts, including therich mosaic artifact collection unearthed during the excavations in Antakya,Harbiye and Samandağ, are stored or exhibited in approximately 20 museumsaround the world such as Princeton University Art Museum (USA), WorcesterMuseum (USA), Louvre (France) as well as Hatay Archeology Museum today.
Hatay Archeology Museum, whichwas initiated to collect the artifacts found in the excavations in one placewas completed in 1939 and opened to visitors on the 10th anniversaryof Hatay´s accession to the Motherland on 23 July 1948. (http://www.gohatay.org/ Access:01.12.2020)
Because the existing museum building could not meetthe needs and in order to better exhibit the rich collection, the constructionof a new Archeology Museum in Hatay wasplanned and the new museum building, whose foundation was laid on May 26, 2011,was opened on December 28, 2014. With the opening of its new building, thenew Hatay Archeology Museum has become the world´s secondlargest mosaic exhibition area.
The works considered as the world´s largest mosaiccollection are exhibited in an area of 3 thousand square meters. The museumbuilding has an exhibition area of 10 thousand 700 square meters in ninedifferent themes: Prehistoric, Paleolithic Culture (Üçağızlı Cave Animation),Amuk Culture (Amik Plain Mound Artifacts), Hellenistic Period (Foundationof Antakya), Roman Period (Mosaics), Necropolis Culture (Sarcophagi),Byzantine Period (Mosaics), Hatay Middle Ages and Religions, History ofHatay Archeology, Current excavations / exhibitions.
Uzun Bazaar
It is a historical bazaar in the center of Antakya,which consists of many sections and has served the people living in this cityfor centuries. The bazaar consists of historical inns, baths, mosques,historical trees and structures. There are many inns (han) and covered bazaarssuch as Kurşunlu Han, Sidikli Han, Sokullu Han in thebazaar. Cindi Hamamı (bath), Saka Hamamı, Meydan Hamamı, Yeni Hamam arealso historical baths that still serve.
(http://hataygastronomi.com/en/products-communinties-markets Accessed:01.12.2020)
Saint Pierre Church
Accepted "the first cave church in theworld", St. Pierre Church is located on the Antakya-Reyhanlı road,on the western slope of Stauris Haç Mountain, which is anextension of Habib-i Neccar Mountain and in the east of thecity. The building, which was transformed into a church with additions when itwas a natural cave, has a gothic style with the additional construction made onits front facade in the 12th and 13th centuries.The church was included in the UNESCO World Heritage TentativeList in 2011.
St. Pierre, one of the 12 apostlesof Jesus, came to Antakya between 29-40 AD andheld his first religious meeting in the cave known as St. Pierre today.It is believed to be the first place where St. Pierre preachedand that the congregation in the cave was named "Christian"(Hristos) for the first time. Therefore St. Pierre Church is known asthe first church of Christianity.
St. Pierre (Saint Petrus) Church wasdeclared a "place of Pilgrimage" by Pope VI in 1963.In the church, which is visited with a modern city view in the background, aritual is organized by the Catholic Church every year on 29June.
The cave floor has some mosaic remains belonging tothe 4th and 5th centuries. There is an altar, asmall marble statue of St. Pierre in a niche, holy water and atunnel for the congregation to escape secretly during an attack on the churchas well. Thousands of local and foreign tourists visit St. PierreChurch every year.
Antakya Ulu Mosque
Ulu Mosque, the oldest and largestamong Antakya mosques, is a structure of the social complex,which consists of structures such as a madrasah, summer mosque, şadırvan (watertank with a fountain) fountain, imaret (soup-kitchen) and shops built indifferent periods, located in the central district of Antakya in Hatay province.The exact construction date of the mosque is unknown. The oldest data that hasbeen found on this subject is the date of 670 (1271) in an inscription found inthe minaret and it belongs to the period when Mamluk Sultan Baybars I ruledthe city.
Habib-i Neccar Mosque
Habib-i Neccar Mosque was built in638, when Antakya was dominated by Muslim Arabs. It isaccepted to be the first mosque in Anatolia and the Republicof Türkiye. The mosque on Kurtuluş Caddesi was named after anAntiochian who was the first to believe in the apostles of Jesus anddied for this cause.
Rumor has it that in the 40s AD, when the helpers ofJesus came to Antakya and tried to explain that God is one, acarpenter (neccar) was the first among those who believed in them. The carpentergave up his Pagan belief and joined them. However, the new sermons of theapostles angered the people. The king put the apostles in prison. Upon this, anew envoy, Şem’un Safa (Simun Petrus), was sent to Antakya.Şem’un convinced the king with his miracles and saved his friends. The peoplewere determined not to believe in the apostles. The people planned to stone himto death because they thought he brought bad luck. Habib-i Neccar waskilled while trying to stop the angry people.
The mosque was built in the place of an old templeduring the period of Mamluk Emperor Baybars. In the northeastcorner of the mosque, 4 meters below the ground, there are the tombs of Habib-Neccarand Şem’un Safa, and at the entrance there are the tombs of John ofpatmos and Pavlos. It is surrounded by madrasah rooms. The fountain in thecourtyard of the mosque is a 19th century work.
Old Antakya Houses and Streets
Antakya houses that shape its typical narrow streetsand give life to these streets with high stone walls, usually single-storey ortwo-storey architectural structures with rooms around the courtyard insidereflect the way of life, traditions and customs of the people. The houses weremade of stone, mudbrick and wood in a way that they have little connection to thestreets.
Most of the houses have large courtyards, pools,wells, orchards adorned with fruit trees and flowers. In these houses, whichwere built 2 centuries ago; ornamentation and craftsmanship are observed in thestyle of Anatolian architecture.
Catholic Church
The church, located in Kurtuluş Caddesi inthe city center of Antakya, was opened for worship in the 19th century,when an old Antakya house was converted into a church with aspecial permission from the Ottoman sultan. The church, which is one of thepillars of the tolerance triangle where the mosque, synagogue and church arelocated and which is also known as the framework of belief in Antakya hasa history of 600 years.
Vakıflı Village
Vakıflı, the only Armenianvillage of Türkiye, that is 4 km from Hatay´s Samandağ district,is also one of Türkiye´s first organic villages. The village´s two greengardens and the scent of orange blossoms, spread over the broad foothillsof Kel Mountain and Musa Mountain, enchant visitors. The entirevillage population consists of Turkish citizens of Armenian origin.
Vakıflı stands out withproducts such as organic wine, jam, olive oil, boğma raki made of figs andliqueur made of myrtle fruit produced by the Armenians. The village continuesits traditions with the religious ceremonies of Christmas, Easter andthe Ascension of the Virgin Mary every year.