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Mardin
Seen from afar, it is a city that stands like a necklace carved with stones above the fertile Mesopotamian Lowland. It is a city that embraces and reconciles different races and religions with all its wisdom, and its narrow streets bursting with history, making its guests feel that they are at where time stands still. It was built on the feet of Mardin Castle, which looks like an eagle's nest, rising over steep rocks; Mardin is a city reminiscent of a fairy tale land with its stone houses with iwans rising gradually. When you go to Mardin, which has hosted different civilizations for ages and managed to preserve the heritage of each, you can feel that history is ‘alive'.
Must Do
Take photos of Mardin from the Mardin observation terraces
See the garden of Emineddun Mosque
Visit Kasimiye Medresesi
Get lost in the streets of Mardin, take photos in front of the walls and doors with overhanging flowers
Coin money in the museum
Shop at the bazaars
Inhale the smell of coffee
One morning, pray in Latifiye Mosque and drink tea in its courtyard
Lean on the minaret of the Great Mosque for back pains
Join the morning service at Deyrül Umur
Buy filigree from Midyat Bazaar
Join Turabdin wine tours
Visit the villages of Midyat
Explore the underground passages in Estel
See the laundries in Savur
Walk to Mor Evgin from Nezirhan Facilities
Visit Dara
Enjoy the Reyyan nights
Did You Know
The first title deed in history is written on a cuneiform tablet found in Gırnavaz Höyük Höyük.
Mardin Assyrians speak Arabic and perform their prayers in Syriac. In Mardin, the clergy usually speak Syriac. Midyat Assyrians, on the other hand, speak Syriac (Turoyo) in daily life, but do not know Arabic.
In old Mardin, the garbage is still collected by the donkeys of the municipality.
One of Turkey's and perhaps the world's oldest churches still is in operation, the Virgin Mary Church is in Anitli (Hah) Village.
Mor Gabriel (Deyrulumur) Monastery
Mor (Lila) Gabriel (Deyrulumur), the oldest surviving Syriac Orthodox monastery in the world, was built in 397 by Mor Samuel of Samur and Mor Shemoun of Kartmin on the ruins of a Zoroastrian temple. The monastery has a great historical importance with its Byzantine mosaics, domes and gates, and Midyat cut stones were used in its construction. Today, about 60 clergymen and students still live in the monastery.
Deyrulzafaran Monastery
The Deyrulzafaran Monastery, which attracts attention with its domes, arched columns, wooden hand embroidery, and stone embroidery inside and outside, takes its name from the use of the zafaran (saffron) flower grown in the region in the mortar of the building. One of the most important religious centers of the Assyrian faith, Deyrulzafaran Monastery was the residence of the Assyrian Orthodox patriarchs for about 640 years until 1932. Today, the monastery remains one of the most important religious centers of the Syriac Church. Deyrulzafaran Monastery, the residence of the Metropolitan of Mardin, is open to visitors outside of worship hours. If you want to sip an Assyrian coffee or zafaran tea, eat kiliçe and watch the fertile plain and the monastery, be sure to visit this magnificent monastery right next to Mardin.
Mardin Museum
Mardin Museum is one of the first places you will visit when you come to Old Mardin. Built in 1895 as the patriarchal center of the Virgin Mary Church, the building was restored and opened as a museum in 1995. The three-storey museum is one of the most important museums in Turkey with its unique stone decorations on the interior and exterior vaults, arches and column capitals and its collection of artifacts dating from 4000 BC to the 7th century BC. Among the artifacts on display are rare examples of tablets, ceramics, silver and copper coins, stamp and cylinder seals, oil lamps, tear bottles, jewelry and a wide variety of findings from the Ancient Bronze, Assyrian, Urartian, Greek, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, Artuqid and Ottoman periods of the cultures of Northern Mesopotamia and Southeastern Anatolia. Necklaces, earrings, bracelets, anklets, bracelets, anklets, foreheads, hairpieces, as well as old clothes, swords, coffee sets, bath items, rosaries, heating tools and copper items, which are examples of silver embroidery unique to Mardin and Midyat, are also exhibited in the Mardin Museum.
Qasimiye Madrasa
The Kasımiye Madrasa, whose construction began during the Artukid period and was completed by Sultan Kasım during the Akkoyunlu period, is considered the largest of Mardin's buildings. The two-story, open courtyard madrasa, where cut stone and brick are used together, embraces the vast Mesopotamian Plain. The madrasa, which has survived to the present day, was used for multiple purposes. There are symbols of astronomy and medicine on the walls of the madrasa. Once upon a time, astronomy lessons were given at night in a large pool in the porticoed courtyard of the madrasa, with the reflection of the stars.
Ancient City of Dara
Dara, 30 km. southeast of Mardin, is the most magnificent of the ancient settlements in the region. The city, which was one of the most important trade centers of Mesopotamia for centuries, consists of structures carved into the rock. The rock tombs in the east of Dara extend to Kuruçay. Remains of a church, palace, bazaar, dungeon, artillery, cistern and water dam can still be seen in the city.
Midyat
Architecturally, Midyat is one of the most interesting places in Mesopotamia. Reminiscent of a medieval city with its gradually rising stone mansions, abbaras and bell towers rising in between, Midyat is as if it has come straight out of history books and fairy tales with its houses and mansions. The interiors of Midyat houses, which are more ornate than Mardin houses, are as elaborate as their exteriors. The people of Midyat have been engaged in silverwork and viticulture for nearly two thousand years. It is possible to find the most beautiful examples of filigree art, Assyrian wine with mahlepli and coffee with cardamom produced with traditional methods in the Midyat bazaar.
