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HISTORIC AND CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
Turkey's humanized landscape is inseparable from its culture. Nevertheless, to the outsider, Turkey gives a new meaning to the word "wilderness," because even in the most inaccessible or isolated parts (such as high mountaintops or secret valleys) the visitor still has the feeling that sometime in history this place, now wild and untended, was a home to civilizations. Some had settled villages and cities as long as 9,000 years ago.
These were people of various origin, coming in waves and mingling with those already settled, each wave resulting in a new synthesis. Between 2000 B.C. and A.D. 1500, this landscape was the center of world civilization. Interpretation of the world scene today is based upon our understanding of what took place on this landscape during the last four millennia, and which is now manifested in the ruins and monuments which adorn the landscape.Up until the advent of modernity
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| (which, in Turkey, is associated with the comprehensive highway program of the 1950's),the landscape had remained much as it was throughout the preceding millennia.When you see a replica in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara of one of the first agrarian villages in the world,dating back to almost 7,000 B.C., you cannot miss the similarity between this prototype and all those others that you have passed on the way to the museum. As in the other long-civilized regions of the world, build- ing technologies and layout patterns have survived to the present to become what we call the vernacular. When you have something that works, why change it? In Anatolia, the settlement pattern is more or less as it was during the time of the ancient civilizations. There is a good chance that the road you are traveling on is the same one great warriors of East and West trod, colorful caravans passed along, and couriers with mail or secret treaties galloped. |
Perhaps it is the same road traveled by St. Paul and his companions, or by Sufis spreading their divine knowledge. Graceful aqueducts built by the Romans made urban concentrations possible. Bridges built by Sinan and other Ottoman architects dot the countryside and are still used for the safe passage of goods and services. Caravanserais dating back to the Seljuk Empire of the 11th century offered sanctuary and relief to weary travelers.You can even stay The Anatolian hinterland will show you glimpses of other
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ancient civilizations: the Hattis, the Hittites, the Phrygians, the Urartians, and the Lydians. From these civi- lizations come many familiar legends: the wealth of the Lydian King Croesus, King Midas with the golden touch, and the Knot of Gordion that young Alexander was able to undo only with a blow of his sword. Then there are the smaller sites, both sacred and ordinary, but with profound meaning: monasteries, tombs of local saints, heroes, artists or poets, mosques, churches, walls, fortresses, palaces, fountains, and cemeteries. The hillsides are covered with broken pieces of ancient pottery and contemporary walls often have corner stones which may date back to antiquity. Children play and sheep graze amidst fragile remains. Until very recently the cave refuges in Cappadocia were used by villagers as cold storage or wine cellars. The very richness of the landscape poses grave challenges for historic preservation in Turkey. Progress has been made in safe- guarding the integrity of the most important sites, and work is ongoing to excavate, cata- logue and preserve the country's tremen- dous legacy. Strict laws prevent the export of antiquities.
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Kesit Tourism and Travel Agency
Caglayan Mah. 2007 Sok. No: 7 TR 07230Antalya / Turkey
Tel:+90-242 323 90 09 Fax:+90-242 323 96 66
E-mail : info@kesit.com
Licence Nr : 3528 |
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