Turkey: Mardin

Mardin. The name of the city from Aramaic means "fortress", this city is called "Turkish Jerusalem". Through the centuries, the fortress walls, narrow streets, an endless number of architectural monuments, rocks overlooking Syria have survived to us - it is not for nothing that the city occupies an honorable position in the list of cultural values ​​of UNESCO.

It is one of the most important tourist centers in the southeast of the country, gaining popularity among foreign tourists in recent years. Between 2012 and 2019, the number of tourists visiting the city increased from 2 million to 5 million per year.

These territories were known as early as the Bronze Age as Izalla and were first mentioned in the documents of the Hurrian kingdom in the 13th century BC, the city of Mardin was absorbed by the Assyrian Empire in 1365 and remained under its rule until the 7th century BC; in Roman times, there was the city of Marida, and in the IV century AD, not far from the center, there was a monastery for 70 monks; the Byzantine region fell into the hands of the Seljuks in the 11th century, mosques, madrasahs and palaces were built here.

Considered by many to be an open-air museum, the city is rich in historic architecture, mostly made of beige limestone quarried for centuries from nearby quarries, and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its entirety for its cultural landscape; Historical churches have been preserved in Mardin, of which special attention should be paid to Mor Benam, built in the second half of the 6th century.

Here you can feel the grandeur and richness of the history of the country, which many people mistakenly associate only with five-star hotels and discos.