History of Turkey: historical place of alanya

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14 Temmuz 2010 Çarşamba

Alanya tersanesi (shipyard) the five eyes

Sultan Aladdin Keykubat had started the shipyard construction to make his dream to become real and become "the sultan of two seas" two years after the construction of the tower. it is the first selcuk tersane in mediterania, which was before they built in the black sea area. At the north side of the shipyard there is an epigraph and at the left side of the epigraph there is a small mosque, at the right side there is a dormitory for the soldiers.
When you enter you can see the small holes, each one of them is 7.70 in width and 42.30 in length. These holes are tied to each other with arcs. One of these holes used to be a well. But now it is filled with waste.

This shipyard was active during the Ottoman period. But today it is abandoned to loneliness and it is trying to still stand.

the 5 eyes (picture taken from the harbour)

alanya castle

Alanya Castle (Alanya Kalesi) is a medieval castle in the southern Alanya. Most of the castle was built in the 13th century under the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm following the city's conquest in 1220 by Alaeddin Keykubad I as part of a building campaign that included the Kızıl Kule. This castle was built on the remnants of earlier Byzantine era and Roman era fortifications.

The castle is located 250 meters high on a rocky peninsula jutting into the Mediterranean Sea, which protects it from three sides stretch 6500 meters and have 140 towers. After the area was pacified under the Ottoman Empire, the castle ceased to be purely defensive, and numerous villas were built inside the walls during the 19th century.

Today the castle is an open air museum. Access to the seaward castle is ticketed, but much of the area inside the wall, including the landward castle is open to the general public.

alanya castle (picture taken from my balcony)

history of Alanya castle

history of alanya castle is connected with the history of the city itself. because the city has changed hands many times over the centuries,and so did the alanya castle. it was owned by the conqueror of the city.

alanya castle lies on the rocky peninsula jutting into the sea. because this peninsula is difficult to be reach by the land or sea therefore it is easy to defend. for many centuries the alanya castle has been home for human settlement.

the first time in the hellenistic period, the top of the peninsula was furnished with a defensive wall. in subsequent centuries, additions were made. the last being the magnificent castle that we can see today which was built by the seljuks.

the city was known as korakesion (coracesium) in ancient times. until the 2nd century BC it retained its independence in the face of numerous attacks. it was survive by the strengt of the geographic situation.

by the 2nd century BC the city was ruled by one diodotos tryphon. the part of defensive wall in the middle sector that stretches from the shrine of arap evliyasi to the ehmedek is thought to date from the reign of tryphon. it is easily distinguishable by the size of the stone blocks and its mortar-less construction.

by the 1st century BC the city had become a pirate haven. it was taken by the romans under the leadership of pompei in 65 BC.

the history of korakesion in the byzantine period is largerly unknown. we don't know that the city in this era became knows as kolonoros (beautiful mountain). some structures still survive from the byzantine period. these are the 11th century church in the citadel, the church called arap evliyasi. a monastery near the tip of civarda point and round towers that run in a line towards the citadel in the middle sector of the castle.

in the 13th century AD the city was in the hands of a christian named kir fard who gave it to seljuk sultan alaadin keykubad in exchange for the governorship of akşehir. under the seljuks alanya began its most resplendent era.

the city took a new name alaiye after the name of seljuk sultan who acquired it and it continued to be called alaiyye until the time of the turkish republic ataturk change its name to be alanya.

with the collapse of the seljuk dynasty, control of alanya passed to the karamanoğlu dynasty in 1293. there are buildings with inscriptions in alanya that date to this period. in 1427 the city was sold to the egyptian mamluk dynasty for 5000 pieces of gold.

in 1471 alanya became a part of the ottoman empire when it was conquered by gedik ahmet paşa. the suleymnaiye mosque and bedesten in the castle are important remains from the ottoman period.

the oldest known inscription in the castle dates to 1226 and 1232.

the top of the castle has many examples of urban civil and religious architecture with mosque churches, cistern, market buildings, baths, etc.

alanya castle is also notable for preserved examples of domestic architecture from the late 19th and 20th centuries. the wall stretch 6500 meters and have 140 towers. the wall and towers have chemins de ronde for the easy movement of the troops. in addition, towers were furnished with crenellations and loopholes.

different sectors of three major wall sectors: the outer, middle and inner sectors. the outer sector stretches up the hill, from the red tower to the ehmedek and the arap evliyasi tower and then again back down towards the sea. it contains such important seljuk period buildings as the red tower, the shipyard and tophane tower.

the middle sector runs between the wall of arap evliyasi tower and the citadel (içkale) in the middle sector are the aksebe turbesi (tomb) a bathhouse and the ehmedek, a small landward citadel all dating from the seljuk period the suleymaniye mosque and bedesten from the ottoman period and the late Byzantine chapel known as arap evliyasi.

the citadel is located on the highest point of the peninsula at its southeast. it was the last refuge and strong-point for the entire castle. as such it always seems to have had a military character. it contains many structures including a palace belonging to the sultan or other important personage barracks depots and cistern from the seljuk period an 11th century byzantine church and a cistern with the colorful name of adamatacağı "hurling place"

Alanya Castle in a Glance (inner part)

it have been 5 years i am living in Alanya and just now (summer 2010) i have a chance to visit Alanya castle. in the night my toursit friend (norwegian) saw the castle from the balcony of my house, they asked "what is that?" and i replied "that is Alanya caslte" they continue the question "can we visit there and take many pictures" i replied "yes you can". then i asked permission to my husband to take them to the castle. then my husband gave me premission. then we decide to go to castle tomorow morning. i am become a tourist guide to the place that i never visited in the previous :D even i never visit the castle but i knew about it by reading through the internet. so when i come there, it seems that i have been there for many times ^_^

the trip began from the centrum of Alanya. since my house is on the kuturup hill, so from my house we took the bus heading to the centrum. from the centrun we took the bus heading to the castle with the tariff 1,25 TL. then we will go off the bus at the final destination which is just in front of the inner castle.

buying the entry ticket 10 TL per person (adult), small children under 5 yo does not have to pay for ticket. the ticketing man was cheating me. i show my daughter (4 yo) to him, to know whether she must pay for ticket or not. then the man say yes she must pay. then i bought 4 tickets (for me, daughter and 2 norway tourist). then we heading to the entry gate. the man in duty is there. he checked our ticket and insert it into machine. i show him the 2 tickets. then he asked me whether the other ticket is for my daughter and i reply "yes". then he allow us to enter and asked me to wait there "lady wait" he said. then he went into the ticketing room and comeback with the 10 TL. he gave me back the 10 TL. OMG thanks to God and thanks to him that my money is back :D

ticketing

entry

the ticket

then we start to explore the inner castle. we took many pictures and we amaze by the fantastic view of Alanya.

one of the fantastic view

first of all we look to the map that stands near to the gate. from that map we will know where we are that time. and near to the gate we can see another map about the whole castle (inner and outer) and the history of the castle in 3 language (turkish, english, and deutch). then we walking on the wood line until "adam atacağı". adam atacağı was a jail in the past. from there a little bit woodline for few meters forward then no wood line anymore. it seem like we walk in the forest because no fixed line to walk. we can see many ruins inside the castle and there is area that we cant enter because it is excavation area. many "sarnıç" which is water supply in the past. then we will finish the walk at the same point that we started.

the gate

inner castle map

ruins

one of the cistern

excavation area

ruins

woodlines

adamatacağı

no woodlines anymore

back to start

exploring the outer alanya castle

after satisfied exploring the inner part of the alanya castle then we go out from there to explore the outer part of the castle. first we try to find the toilet because of "the urgent thing". there is sign that "wc 200 m". but after we walked more than 200 m following the arrow, we did not find the toilet. then my friend asked to the woman whom making the carpet in the souvenir shop (there are many souvenir shop along the street to the inner castle). the woman said that we can find it in the mosque area. then we were continue walking to find the mosque and there is sign reading "suleymaniye camii, han, bedesten". then we follow the arrow to the suleymaniye camii. finaly we found the camii (mosque) so we can rest for a while, go to toilet and taking pictures of the historical mosque (story and the pics of the mosque is after this post).

near to the suleymaniye mosque area, we can visit han and bedesten. han (caravanserai) was a hostel in the past. and bedesten is marketplace building. i think in the past bedesten was the place for the people who live in the castle area to do their shopping. i saw those places, but i did not visit it because there is no sign reading that we can enter those places. only i look inside the door but no people and no activity inside there, therefore i decide not to go there. then we were continue walking to catch the bus.

same as in the inner castle that we can find many ruins at the outer part of the castle. i took pictures some of it. and in the outer part of castle, we can find many housing residents.

ruins

ruins again

housing residents

actually we still want to explore the caslte (outer part), to go to ehmedek (near to the mosque) but we were already tired. then we decide to go home but we have plan to visit damlataş cave which is the bus will passing that place. while we were waiting for the bus. we were walking to the terrace of the outer castle where we can see the fantastic view. we took pictures there. then few minutes later the bus come and we go on the bus. the bus very crowded, we must stand up in the bus.

one of the fantastic view from the terrace

when the bus stop in front of damlataş cave (to drop off and to hoist the passenger), we drop off there because we have plan to visit the cave.

süleymaniye mosque

this summer 2010, i have a chance to visit another historical mosque in alanya that is süleymaniye camii which is located in the outer part of alanya castle. the first historical mosque in alanya that i have visited was kuyularönü camii which is located near to alanya harbour. kuyularönü camii is easy to reach because it is located in the shopping center where people are passing by in front of it. but different with süleymaniye camii which is located far away from the hustle. it hard to reach, must be tired to be there. but it is exciting trip to reach the mosque. when you arrive there, you will feel calm, cool, quiet, and comfortable. after walking under the sun in the hot summer time then you will fine the coolness when you enter the mosque.

about süleymaniye camii
originally built by alaadin keykubat I in 1231, and rebuilt by the ottoman sultan süleyman the magnificent (1530-1560). the square planed mosque consist of a main domed chamber in center and 3 rooms separated by crossed-arches on north. construction materials are built of stone and bricks. quite large cistern is placed
in the north - east corner and next to it there is a covered ablution fountain. above the main entrance there is arabic written: "GOD=ALLAH". the minaret built on a square base rises in the north western corner