Tours » South Eastern Tours » Sanlıurfa - Mardin Tour

The history of Sanlıurfa can be traced back around 9000 years. It (often referred to as Urfa) is a place of pilgrimage for many religions, containing what is thought to be the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham. According to Jewish and Muslim scriptures, he was summonsed by Allah whilst living there.

The traditional and religious conservatism, combined with the ancient historical monuments, has also given it the name City of the Prophets and has made Urfa a unique place to visit. Away from the city, the ancient village and genuine living museum Harran with its famous bee-hive type houses, has been continuously inhabited for more than 6000 years.

Sanliurfa is one of the most important centres of religious tourism, with many places of worship to visit. The most famous ones are Ulu Mosque, Hasan Padisah Mosque, Halil-Ur Rahman Mosque, Hazreti Ibrahim’in Dogum Magarasi (Prophet Abraham’s Birth Cave), Mevlid-i Halil Mosque and Eyup Peygamber Makami (Prophet Job’s Site).

The historical settlement of Harran, 44km south of Sanliurfa, was mentioned in the Old Testament as the place where Abraham lived before going to Canaan. Islamic historians connect the area to the grandson of the prophet Noah, and also Aaron (Harran) the brother of Abraham. Har-ra-na was mentioned in ancient inscriptions found in Kultepe and Mari dating back to 2000 BC, and also stone tablets found in northern Syria.

Mardin, is a poetic city of Southeast Anatolia Region reflecting the impression as if the time had stopped with its present architectural, ethnographic, archeological, historic and visual merits. The city hosts mosques, mausoleums, churches, monasteries and similar religious creations parallel to the different religious beliefs all of which are representing both artistic and historic values. The province of Mardin is located along the historical Silk Road and there are 5 inns and caravansaries in the city.

Numerous civilizations had settled at the Mesopotamian region between the Fırat and Dicle rivers throughout the history. Mardin province was founded on a hill and is one of the oldest cities of the Upper Mesopotamia.

Mardin has preserved the old-style carving in its houses. Since located in a volcanic area, the basic input used in local architecture is easily workable calcareous rock. Houses in Mardin, reflecting all features of a closed-in life style are surrounded by 4 meters high walls and isolated from the street. These walls also provide protection from harsh climatic conditions.