Turkey City: Urfa (San Lylaurf)
One of the most beautiful cities in the region, the place of pilgrimage for many religions and the estimated place of birth of the prophet Abraham, Urpha (Urfa, officially – Sanlaurf, that is "Magnificent ulf") lies in the heart of the plateau of the same name.
It is believed that it is from here that the east begins as such – most of the population make up Kurds and Arabs, women wear a traditional Arab dress, and alcohol is almost absent even in restaurants. In Turkey, Urf is often called "The city of the prophets": According to Jewish and Muslim sources, it was during their lives in the Urpha Abraham – the first of three patriarchs, the investigator of the Jewish and Arab peoples – received a revelation to move to Canaan. For other legends, the prophet Job also lived in these parts, and somewhere here were the famous Gardens of Eden. Be that as it may, it is reliably known that already in 3500 BC. NS. There was a powerful fortress of the UR, or urchi, with Macedonians a large market town of Edess had noged, from the second century, our era became the center of dissemination of Christianity. Then the city was repeatedly passed into the hands of the Arabs, then the Crusaders, in 1260 he was captured by Mongols and quickly decline, going under the name of the urals to the Ottoman Empire in 1637.
- Mosque next to the cave, where Abraham was born
- Modern part of the city
- Mosque near Balyk Göl
sights
Now this is a very colorful city, the main attractions of which are chaos ancient narrow streets east of Divan Caddesi, a massive fortress Cale-Urfa (open from Thursday to Sunday from 9.00 to 18.00, entrance – 1 try) with ruins of antique structures, set of gardens and mosques Hyzyr-Ibrahim with "Cave Abraham" (Ibrahim-Halilula Derg, open daily from 8.00 to 17.30) In the far wall of the courtyard, nearby mosque Yeni and holy cave with a hair from the head of the Prophet Mohammed, sising fish sacred Lake Gölbasa (Ain-and-Zelikha and Khalil-Ur Rahman, or Balyki Göl), Mosque Ulu (XII B.), Abdurrahman (XVII B.) with a minaret of the XII century, Fyrfyrly (Former Armenian Church of the Twelve Apostles) and Selakhattin-Ayyby (built in 1860 as the Armenian Church of St. John and only recently rebuilt into the mosque), caravansera Gumryuk and Haji Camille Khan (XV-XVI centuries.), House Hafiz-Efendy And adjacent to it Kara-Maidana and mosque Yusuf-Pasha, Labyrinth indoor bazaar Kabli-Karsy, And also Byzantine aqueduct (525 g. N. NS.).
Excellent Archaeological Museum cities (open from Thursday to Sunday with 8.30 to 12.00 and from 13.30 to 17.00, the entrance – 2 TRY) is located north of the city center and is famous for its historical section with finds not only from the territory of the URF, but also from the sections of other ancient cities of the Valley of the Euphrate.
Around the city
Approximately 45 km southeast of the URF, among the cold plains of the top of the plateau, similar to the bee honeycombs of the house of the ancient village Harran, also known as Altynbashak. This is one of the most ancient settlements of the planet, continuously populated for at least 6000 years. Once it was a major city, the center of the Moon’s cult, an important fortress and a scientific center of antiquity, referred to in Scripture, as a residence of Abraham on the way from Hurray to Canaan. It is unique finds from this settlement that make up most of the collection of the Archaeological Museum of the URF, and his house-cells, the fortress of the Crusaders and the ruins of the Ulu Mosque (VIII in.) are a business card of all border.
23 km east of Harran can be found founded in Roman times Shuyb, part of the buildings of which are hiding underground.
17 km north lie the ruins of the ancient city of Sabinyan Sogmatar (Sumar), famous for their cult moon and stars.
Reviews and studies of trips
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Chukcha-Ghek | September 2012
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The whole flight from Bucharest in Istanbul occupies exactly an hour. The air route passes over the Black Sea, so it was impossible to see anything interesting in the windows. But I turned my place with a super bonus – next to a spare way out, which means that the distance to the ahead of the armchair is a whole meter! Did not have time for citizens in the plane to drink their coffee or something stronger, as the plane has already walked for landing. Finally, the strip of sushi appeared in the porthole, and after a few minutes we swept over the bottle of Bosphorus, whose lead waters were slowly crawled down dozens of large ships and thousands of some boats. Read more →
Traveler | Summer 2003
Turkey. The last sip of spring
In a long road, among the vehicles, Arabs and camels, I often recalled Turkey. There everything is different, there is order. No wonder they are friends with the Germans. Europe, in one word. Read more →
