HASANKEYF

Hasankeyf

Hasankeyf is a historical transit point located at the spot where the Tigris River enters the canyon connecting the Abdin and Mardin regions with Botan, Bitlis and Van, and is the location of one of the oldest settlements in Mesopotamia.

During the excavations conducted at the Hasankeyf fortress, it was discovered that its earliest settlement could be traced to 3000 BC Between 1000 and 1500 BC. Hasankeyf existed under the dominion of the Artugids, the Ayyubids and the Akkoyunlular. Many of the surviving works of architecture bear the signature of the Ayyubid Sultan , El-Melik El-Adil Sultan Süleyman (1378-1432). It was during this era that Hasankeyf reached its architectural apogee. A significant number of the architectural monuments that survive in Hasankeyf today, first and foremost the Grand Mosque (Ulu Cami) at the fortress, the Rizk Mosque, the Sultan Süleyman Mosque, the Kizlar Mosque, the imam Abdullah Monastery and the Küçük Saray, or Small Palace, are all works of the Ayyubids.