Crossroads of trade and culture Sivas

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x0x Crossroads of trade and culture Sivas

By NECDET SAKAOGLU

The Turkish province of Sivas has a beautiful and varied landscape of volcanic mountains intersected by deep gorges, high plateaus, fertile plains, river valleys shaded by poplars, and steppe with oak and juniper woods. In mediaeval times the Seljuk sultans hunted around the lakes of Hafik and Todurge. For long centuries the province has been an important region for iron ore mining, cereal production and sheep farming. Sivas is famous for its Kangal dogs, huge creatures gentle with children but fierce when protecting their flocks from wolves and farms from intruders.

HUB OF ANCIENT ROADS

The ancient King's Road, Silk Road and Spice Road, and military roads linking Istanbul to Caucasia and the Black Sea coast all pbutted through Sivas. Excavations of the fort at Topraktepe beside the Mismil River, a tributary of the Kizilirmak, have shown that there was a Hitbreaste settlement here in the 2nd millennium BC.

The King's Road from Ephesus pbutted through Gordion, Ankara, Corum, Tokat and Sivas, from where it continued eastwards into Iran.

Successive civilisations which ruled the region grew wealthy on the busy trade, and attached importance to maintenance of the roads and keeping them secure. During Seljuk and Ottoman times numerous bridges were built over rivers on the roads leading to the Gulf of Basra, eastern Anatolia, the Black Sea and Konya. Some of these bridges can still be seen today, such as the Egri, Kesik, Bogaz and Kizilirmak bridges.

Sivas was invaded during the Arab incursions of the 7th and 8th centuries, and conquered by the Turkish general Emir Danismend Gazi in 1071. The Danismendogullari principality ruled the city until 1175, after which it became part of the Anatolian Seljuk State. It was at this time that the city walls, castle, Ulu Mosque, and other monumental works of Seljuk architecture were constructed. At Divrigi east of Sivas the Mengucekogullari principality built the superb monuments for which this town is renowned: Kale Mosque built by Sahin Sah, Ulu Mosque by Ahmed Sah, and the hospital by Melike Turan Melek.

CITY OF LEARNING

During these early centuries of Turkish rule, both Sivas and Divrigi became major centres of scholarship and art.

Throughout the 13th century, Sivas ranked second only to Konya, with its mosques and medreses (colleges), and insbreastutions funded by rich endowments. Some of the Seljuk sultans made the city their capital.

The historic monuments in Sivas today reflect the city's former importance and splendour. The Medical College founded in 1217 by Sultan Izzeddin Keykavus was the largest such insbreastution in Seljuk Turkey. In this building, with its great portal, inner courtyard and iwan (arched alcoves), physicians both treated patients and instructed students.

Opposite the Medical College are the remaining structures of Cifte Minareli Medrese, the imposing portal with its marvellous stone carving and pair of minarets with tile decoration. Further along the same street you notice the graceful sandstone portal of Buruciye Medrese, built by the renowned Seljuk architect Kaluyan of Konya.

The intricately carved motifs on the portal, which is flanked by two tiled minarets, include dragons, symbols relating to health, and talismanic motifs.

DIVRIGI ULU MOSQUE

The Divrigi Ulu Mosque complex dating from 1228 is listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO. Hurremsah of Ahlat was the architect of Ahmed Sah's Ulu Mosque and the Turan Melek Hospital, both exquisite masterpieces which have survived intact and in their original state to the present day. The four portals of the complex, the mosque niche, minber (pulpit) and vaults are all carved in the same style but in different decorative schemes. Sivas became part of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century, after being ruled by three different Turkish principalities following the fall of the Seljuk State.

The many historic monuments dating from these principalities and the Ottoman period include Guduk Minaret and its kumbets (tower tombs), the Kale, Meydan and Aliaga mosques, Kursunlu Hamam (bath), the hans (khans) of Behrampasa and Tas, the Council House, and the building where the Sivas Congress was held during the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1923).

SIVAS CONGRESS

The most important event in the modern history of Sivas is the congress convened here by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on 4-14 September 1919, at which crucial decisions were taken to prevent the parbreastion of the country by the Allies, the support of the people was rallied, and the foundations of the new parliament in Ankara were laid.