Hasankeyf: The Tigris Town Under the Ilısu Reservoir

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1. What is Hasankeyf?
2. How do you get to Hasankeyf?
3. When is the best time to visit Hasankeyf?
4. What is the history of Hasankeyf?
5. What is Hasankeyf famous for?
6. What can you see at Hasankeyf?
7. Common misconceptions about Hasankeyf
8. Frequently asked questions about Hasankeyf
9. What do the official records say about Hasankeyf?

What is Hasankeyf?

Hasankeyf was a town on the Tigris built around a high cliff of soft limestone. On top of the cliff stood a fortress and palaces; in its sides were thousands of caves, many of them dwellings; and along the river below lay mosques, tombs, baths and a great medieval bridge. For several centuries it was the seat of the Artuqid and then Ayyubid rulers of the upper Tigris.

That town no longer exists in the form described in older guidebooks. The Ilısu Dam, built on the Tigris downstream as part of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), was completed in February 2018. Its reservoir began filling in late July 2019, and by July 2020 the old town was fully under water. The residents moved to New Hasankeyf (Yeni Hasankeyf), a planned settlement on higher ground by the new shoreline.

Before the flooding, a few monuments were taken down or moved and re-erected in the Hasankeyf Cultural Park near the new town. The best known is the Zeynel Bey Tomb, relocated in 2017. Finds from the rescue excavations in the reservoir area are shown in the Batman Museum.

How do you get to Hasankeyf?

Hasankeyf is south-east of Batman city, on the road towards Midyat in Mardin province. From Batman, minibuses and taxis run to New Hasankeyf; with a car you can combine it with Midyat and the monasteries of Tur Abdin on the same day. Batman Airport (BAL) is the nearest airport, and Diyarbakır and Mardin airports are also within driving range.

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When is the best time to visit Hasankeyf?

Spring (April–May) and autumn (October to early November). The inventory notes that the Tigris gave Hasankeyf mild winters, with average highs of 40–43°C in summer and average lows of 6–8°C. The reservoir has not changed the summer heat, so in July and August plan your visit for early morning or late afternoon.

What is the history of Hasankeyf?

The 2002 inventory explains that Hasankeyf’s founding date is not known precisely, but that its geopolitical position makes it very likely to be a very old settlement. The many caves, some of them still used as homes at the time, showed that people had settled here in very ancient times, and the inventory notes that the town’s origins could only be confirmed after archaeological work.

According to the inventory, the founding of Hasankeyf Castle falls in the 4th century AD. In the middle of that century the Byzantine emperor Constantius, who had taken the area around Diyarbakır, built two frontier castles to protect the region, and one of them was Hasankeyf. The caves in the castle show that the place was a settlement even before it was fortified. When the castle gained political importance against the Sasanians, it was strengthened again. Under the Greek name Kiphas the town was also a bishopric, and its bishop attended the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

Hasankeyf was taken by Muslim armies around 639–640 and became known in Arabic as Hisn Kayfa, the rock fortress. Abbasids, Hamdanids and Marwanids followed. In 1101–1102 the town was granted to the Artuqids, and the inventory says Hasankeyf lived its most brilliant period under them; they built the Great Palace and the bridge over the Tigris. The Ayyubids took the citadel in 1232 and ruled for more than two centuries, building the Small Palace and several mosques. The town passed to the Akkoyunlu and then to the Ottomans in the 16th century.

In the inventory’s words, Hasankeyf was the centre of learning and culture of the region, with its madrasas, observatory, hospital (darüşşifa) and other educational institutions, and it lost importance as trade routes and trading centres moved elsewhere. Because of its many historic buildings, the whole district was declared a protected site in 1981. Even so, the inventory recorded in 2002 that, because of the Ilısu Dam, these historic structures would be completely flooded.

The dam was one of the most debated infrastructure projects in Türkiye. The government presented it as a major source of energy and development, while archaeologists, conservation groups and many residents argued for saving Hasankeyf; the World Monuments Fund placed the town on its 2008 Watch List. European export-credit agencies withdrew in 2009, and the project went ahead with Turkish financing.

What is Hasankeyf famous for?

• The citadel cliff. The fortress stood about 100 m above the Tigris.
• The caves. Thousands of caves were cut into the cliffs, many of them multi-storeyed, with their own water supply, and some containing churches and mosques.
• The medieval bridge. Built by the Artuqids in the 12th century; the inventory calls it the largest stone bridge of the Middle Ages. Only two piers and parts of the foundations survived into modern times.
• The El-Rızk minaret. Its carved inscriptions and floral decoration were among the finest stonework in the town.
• The dam. Hasankeyf became a symbol of the debate over heritage and development in Türkiye.

What can you see at Hasankeyf?

The reservoir and the citadel rock. The upper part of the cliff on which the fortress stood still rises above the reservoir, with caves visible in its face. The lower town, the riverside mosques and the bridge piers are under water.

The Hasankeyf Cultural Park. Near New Hasankeyf, the park holds the relocated monuments, led by the Zeynel Bey Tomb. Wikipedia notes reports that only eight historic monuments were moved in total; many others remain in the reservoir.

The Batman Museum. Its Hasankeyf gallery shows finds from the excavations, and the open-air Museum Park includes a reconstruction of the Artuqid Gate and a medieval living area from Hasankeyf. See our Batman Museum guide.

What the inventory described. For the record, these are the monuments the 2002 inventory listed in the old town:

• Hasankeyf Castle, founded by the Byzantines in the mid-4th century, containing hundreds of dwellings, the Great Palace, the Small Palace and the Great Mosque.
• The Castle Gate, at the top of the eastern stairs to the castle, which its inscription shows to be Ayyubid.
• The Great Palace, on the north of the castle, thought from its features to be Artuqid.
• The Great Mosque in the castle, built in the first half of the 14th century under the Ayyubids on the remains of an older building.
• El-Rızk Mosque, built in 1409 by the Ayyubid Sultan Süleyman, of which the minaret and part of the north façade with the portal survived.
• Sultan Süleyman, Koç and Kızlar mosques, Ayyubid buildings already in ruins in 2002.
• The tombs of Imam Abdullah and Zeynel Bey.

Common misconceptions about Hasankeyf

Was everything in Hasankeyf lost to the dam?

What people often assume: That nothing of Hasankeyf survives, or, at the other extreme, that the whole historic town was moved to safety.

What the record says: Neither. The old town was submerged by 2020, but the Zeynel Bey Tomb was relocated to the Hasankeyf Cultural Park in 2017, a small number of other monuments were moved, and excavated finds are displayed in the Batman Museum’s Hasankeyf gallery (Wikipedia; Batman Culture and Tourism Directorate).

Is Hasankeyf in Siirt?

What people often assume: Older books place Hasankeyf in Siirt province.

What the record says: It was, until Batman province was created in 1990. Hasankeyf is now a district of Batman.

Frequently asked questions about Hasankeyf

What do the official records say about Hasankeyf?

Hasankeyf, which stands on the bank of the Tigris and was in its time the region’s centre of learning and culture with its madrasas, observatory, hospital and other educational institutions, has today lost its importance because transport routes and trading centres have moved. However, because of the rich historical buildings it possesses, the district was declared a protected site in its entirety in 1981. Because of the Ilısu Dam within the GAP project, these historic structures will be completely flooded.

Hasankeyf is spread along the Tigris River, in a valley bounded by the Raman mountain range to the north and the South Midyat range to the south. The Tigris is an important river that gives life to the region, and it makes the winter months mild. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Batman Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)