Turkiye
Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens
The Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape comprises a fortified settlement along the Tigris River, which played an important role in many civilizations.
Its long history includes Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, Artuqid, Seljuk and Ottoman periods. The Diyarbakır City Walls stretch for 5,800 metres with many towers, gates, buttresses and historic inscriptions.
Community Perspective: The site isn’t very well preserved, read Clyde and Stanislaw’s reviews for what ‘issues’ you may encounter. To appreciate the walls, you can do the extra-muros circuit where you’ll encounter some of the inscriptions (walking on the walls itself is hardly possible).
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape (ID: 1488)
- Country
- Turkiye
- Status
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Inscribed 2015
Site history
History of Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens
- WHS Type
- Cultural
- Criteria
- iv
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Related Resources
- telegraph.co.uk — Diyarbakir: Turkey, but not as we know it
- diyarbakirkulturturizm.org — Diyarbakir Castle
News Article
- May 20, 2025 news18.com — Turkey Destroys 30,000 Marijuana Plants Secretly Grown In Hevsel Gardens
- Oct. 13, 2024 dailysabah.com — Diyarbakır walls receive iron railings for visitor safety in S. Türkiye
- July 5, 2021 hurriyetdailynews.com — Dağkapı, a medieval mountain gate, was reinstalled to the 8,000-year-old Walls of Diyarbakır on June 2 after its renovation.
- Nov. 22, 2017 al-monitor.com — Heartbreak in Turkey's Diyarbakir as development transforms ancient Sur
- Dec. 9, 2015 todayszaman.com — Blame game begins over fire at historic Diyarbakır mosque
- Oct. 7, 2015 hurriyetdailynews.com — Historic structures damaged in Diyarbakır
- July 12, 2015 todayszaman.com — UNESCO recognition a ‘victory’ for people of Diyarbakır
Community Information
- Community Category
- Secular structure: Military and Fortifications
- Cultural Landscape: Continuing
Travel Information
Recent Connections
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Tigris - Euphrates Basin
situated on the banks of the Tigris -
Inscribed on a single criterion only
Crit iv -
Destroyed or damaged by Earthquake
Feb 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake: "UNES…
Connections of Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens
- Individual People
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Timur
In 1394, Timur surrounded Diyarbakır and was able to enter the city through a hole on the city wall, and demolished many buildings. (AB ev) -
Gertrude Bell
She viewed the city walls in 1909
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- Geography
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Kurdistan
Turkish Kurdistan -
Tigris - Euphrates Basin
situated on the banks of the Tigris
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- Trivia
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Total Solar Eclipse since Inscription
11 August, 1999
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- History
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Seljuk Empire
The Seljuk Period in Diyarbakır, between 1085 and 1093, saw further repairs and reconstructions to the walls of Diyarbakır. Towers number 15, 32, 42 (now known as Malik Shah or Nur Tower), and 63 (known as Findik Tower) were constructed during this period. The inscriptions on them confirm this information. (AB ev) -
Ottoman Empire
In 1515, after taking Amid, the Ottoman Empire further developed trade, built new public (commercial, religious and cultural) structures and contributed to the renewal of the city. The Ottoman period extended until 1922. (AB ev) -
Silk Roads
(Near) Classic Land Route; "Silk was grown in the Hevsel Gardens, contributing to the important trade from and through Diyarbakır to Aleppo" (AB ev) -
Byzantine Empire and Civilization
Various Byzantine incursions occurred during this period; parts of the city walls were destroyed in 899, and were reconstructed to improve the city’s defence (as documented by several Abbasid inscriptions). (AB ev)
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- Damaged
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Destroyed or damaged by Earthquake
Feb 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake: "UNESCO deplores the collapse of several buildings at the World Heritage site of Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape"See whc.unesco.org
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Cultural sites damaged by fire since inscription
Fatih Paşa Mosque, Dec. 7 2015
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- World Heritage Process
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WHS with enclave
The City Walls are in the core zone in their entirety, but the Old City within the walls is a Buffer Zone -
Inscribed on a single criterion only
Crit iv
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- Religion and Belief
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Zoroastrianism
Goat Bastion was used as a Zarathustra temple (source: Diyarbakir City Guide) -
Notable mosques
Great Mosque of Diyarbakır, and several more within the citadelSee en.wikipedia.org
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- Human Activity
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Silk Manufacture
In the Ottoman Period the Hevsel Gardens were covered entirely in Mulberry trees" (Diyarbakir Province is still a producer of silk) -
Irrigation and drainage
"The Anzele Spring is located in the west part of the City Walls. It provides for the water needs of many mosques in the city, houses and gardens to the Urfa Gate, powers the mills outside of Mardin Gate, and irrigates the Hevsel Gardens".
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- Constructions
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Walled cities
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Prison
Features within İçkale include the prison .. (AB ev) -
Notable Bridges
Ten-Eyed Bridge
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- Timeline
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Built in the 11th century
Oldest towers and inscriptions in the city walls date from 1085-1093
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- WHS Hotspots
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South Central Turkey Hotspot
3 hour (mini)bus drive
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News
- news18.com 05/20/2025
- Turkey Destroys 30,000 Marijuana P…
- dailysabah.com 10/13/2024
- Diyarbakır walls receive iron rail…
- hurriyetdailynews.com 07/05/2021
- Dağkapı, a medieval mountain gate,…
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.Community Reviews
Show full reviews
This site covers a lot of ground and is hard to get a feel for on your own — just the walls of the city themselves are the 2nd widest and longest complete defensive walls (after only the Great Wall of China)! However, I found that visiting the Diyarbakir Archeology Museum first gave great contextualization for the rest of the city. Price is 3 euros for foreigners in Spring 2025.
Across from the museum, you can walk along a portion of the wall by climbing some steep stairs to reach the top. You can also get a view of the Hevsel gardens in the distance. This was a popular activity and you could see many young people taking pictures of the view. The WHS itself, without the museum, is left unexplained and the walls in particular have a lot of graffiti/vandalism. Walking along the walls, I found a lot of names etched in the bricks, spray paint, etc. Overall, I think the site has a ways to go in terms of restoration, as well as accessibility of information.
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Arriving from Zerzevan South of town, I started my visit to Diyarbakir at the Ten-Eyed-Bridge. It's located a few kilometers down river from the old city and offers great initial views of the city. The walls sitting high on a hill look massive from afar and must have impressed any traveler (or army) arriving as I did from the South.
I continued my walk along the Tigris river. As mentioned by Stanislaw, you can't walk along the river, but have to follow the main road. Before entering the city at the Mardin gate, I briefly visited Hevsel Gardens. I get the idea of communal garden, but felt this would be better served as intangible heritage. There really is nothing historic to see and the local peasants were probably wondering what I was looking for.
After dropping my luggage at my hotel, I walked along most of the circumference of the walls. I was expecting being able to walk on the walls like in Lugo or Avila. This is only possible at some places. In comparison, I found both Avila as well as Lugo better preserved. And walking on the walls had me worried as there are no rails and the walls are not always in best shape. Highlight of the fortification are the Diyarbakır Fortress and the South Western corner.
The city itself offers more sites. To me the two best site were the Great Mosque and the ruin of the St. George Church. The Great Mosque …
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I visited Diyarbakir in Spring 2021 after Sanliurfa and before heading towards Van lake and spent 2 nights and 3 days here. When planning my road trip loop I had marked this area as the one I was to be most careful in based on some rough experiences some travellers went through here. It's close proximity to conflict stricken countries such as Syria and Iraq, plus being the unofficial capital of Turkish Kurdistan, all seem to contribute enough to being a bit more careful in principle.
During our visit though, we encountered no problems whatsoever and the locals were really friendly and proud that two Western tourists made an extra effort to visit their city notwithstanding its reputation and the COVID-19 travel restrictions. Due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed on most locals, such as the ban on inter-state travel, when we visited most if not all refugees or migrants from neighboring countries were either pushed back or living in tent communities in the fields on the outskirts of the city. Police and military forces are always on the alert here, so expect numerous checkpoints not only on the way to/from the city but also within different districts within the city walls. Together with the CCTV cameras installed literally everywhere, the city (especially inside the area inside and near the city walls) felt extra safe at all times.
The city walls have gone through constant turmoil or acts of vandalism, but the UNESCO inscription seems to have helped …
Keep reading 0 commentsStanislaw Warwas
Diyarbakir Fortress And Hevsel Gardens
Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens (Inscribed)

Visited April 2018. Diyarbakır is the unofficial capital of Turkish Kurdistan. The city is really big and still booming thanks to the GAP Project, but the part interesting for tourists is located on its eastern outskirts, closer to the Tigris River. The Kurdish people call the city Amida as it was named two thousand years ago.
I have very mixed feelings about this inscription that was put into WH List 2015 after ICOMOS referral. Surely it is not my favourite WHS in Turkey although I have to admit that the inscribed part has a kind of a charm… There are 6 components which constitute one rather big unity: Içkale with Amida Mound, City Walls, Hevsel Gardens, Ten-Eyed Bridge, Natural water resources, Tigris River Valley.
1. Tigris River Valley. It is hard to believe that this river (locally called Dicle) together with Euphrates gave birth to Mesopotamian civilization. Now Tigris is just a 30-meter wide, shallow and dirty. Only eastern bank of the river has a walkable path, the one on the citadel site is partially in the private hands so wired fences are not uncommon. 2. Natural water resources are the most difficult to find. Just west of the outer walls, between Urfa and Mardin gates, after a moment of wandering around and asking locals, you can see Anzele Spring. Now it looks like a small pool, some of it hidden in the tunnel. Children are playing around, 3. Ten-Eyed Bridge is located around 3 km south of the Mardin …
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