History and Culture – hip.com.tr

Deserving the “Cradle of Civilizations” definition, Anatolia has been the homeland of some of the most notable civilizations in human history. Over thousands of years, many great empires have flourished, lived and eventually declined and left some magnificent monuments, buildings, cities, artwork and their culture as their legacy in Anatolia.

Hattusha (Boğazköy) – Hittite Capital in Çorum Province

Hattusha was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of the Kızılırmak River.

Amasra - Safranbolu town

The Old Town preserves many historic buildings, with 1008 registered historical artifacts. These are: 1 private museum, 25 mosques, 5 tombs, 8 historical fountains, 5 Turkish baths, 3 caravanserais, 1 historical clock tower, 1 sundial and hundreds of houses and mansions.

Perge - Antalya

Perga was an ancient and important city of Pamphylia, between the rivers Catarrhactes and Cestrus (Turkish Aksu Çayı).

Mount Nemrut

In 62 BCE, King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene built on the mountain top a tomb-sanctuary flanked by huge statues 8–9-metre high (26–30 ft) of himself, two lions, two eagles and various Greek and Iranian gods, such as Heracles-Artagnes-Ares, Zeus-Oromasdes, and Apollo-Mithras-Helios-Hermes.

Aphrodisias -Aydın

Aphrodisias was a small ancient Greek Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. Aphrodisias was named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, who had here her unique cult image, the Aphrodite of Aphrodisias.

Xanthos - Letoon / Antalya

Xanthos was a city in ancient Lycia, the site of present-day Kınık, Antalya Province, Turkey, and of the river on which the city is situated. Trojan War heroes and Lycian leaders Glaucus and Sarpedon are described in the Iliad as coming from the land of the Xanthos River. In the same text, Achilles' immortal, talking horse is named Xanthos.

Türkiye is one of the countries on earth, hosting largest number of historical places. According to the National Immovable Cultural Heritage Inventory, there are around 10,000 protected historic and culturalsite and over 100,000 registered monuments and historical buildings which make Türkiye a truly open air museum of civilizations. Starting from 11,500 years old, “World's first temple” Göbekli Tepe, Turkish land as been the home of numerous civilizations in over millenniums. Hattis, Hittites, Phrygians, Urartians, Lycians, Lydians, Ionians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks, Ottomans and many others all lived in Anatolia, which makes Türkiye a unique place all over the world.

Türkiye’s rich and diverse historical heritage may also be seen in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Currenly there are 18 sites already in UNESCO’s list and 77 more are in consideration. Two of these sites are “mixed” where natural and cultural elements are together (Göreme and Pamukkale) and 16 of them are cultural
heritage sites.

Here is the current UNESCO World Heritage List for Türkiye with registration years:

Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia (1985)
Great (Ulu) Mosque and Hospital (Darüşşifa) of Divriği in Sivas (1985)
Historic Areas of İstanbul (1985)
Hattusha (Boğazköy) – Hittite Capital in Çorum Province (1986)
Nemrut Mountain in Adıyaman province (1987)
Hierapolis – Pamukkale (1988)
Xanthos – Letoon near Antalya province (1988)
Safranbolu town (1994)
Archaeological Site of Troy (1998)
Selimiye Mosque Complex in Edirne (2011)
Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük in Konya province (2012)
Bursa and Cumalıkızık village (2014)
Pergamon (2014)
Ephesus site (2015)
City Walls and Hevsel Gardens in Diyarbakır province (2015)
Archaeological site of Ani (2016)
Aphrodisias site (2017)
Göbeklitepe site (2018)

On top of these already registered sites, Türkiye has also submitted a tentative list of 77 sites to UNESCO for future nominations of inventory from Türkiye. UNESCO's Tentative List is an inventory of the properties which each member country intends to consider for nomination of cultural and/or natural heritage sites during the following years. As countries are entitled reexamining and re-submitting their tentative list in every ten years, this list likely to get bigger since new archaeological findings come to the surface every year. HipTravel organizes tailor made history tours all around Türkiye for individuals or groups, with professional guides in Spanish, Portuguese, English or any other language.