The Best Places to Visit in Batman

Hasankeyf sits in a dramatic Tigris River canyon where sheer limestone cliffs rise 80 m above the water — the cliffs honeycombed with thousands of hand-cut caves used across millennia as dwellings, churches, granaries and tombs. The site preserves layers from Neolithic, Assyrian, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Artukid, Ayyubid and Ottoman periods. Above the canyon, the Artukid castle (12th century) commands the entire valley; below, the remains of the ancient bridge (4 piers still standing in the Tigris) once spanned the river on what was a major Silk Road crossing.

The canyon walls at Hasankeyf contain an estimated 5,000 cut-rock caves and 400 identifiable rock-cut churches, chapels and monasteries from the Byzantine period. Many are accessible from the main archaeological path; others require climbing. The Byzantine cave churches preserve painted frescoes (fragmentary) and architectural details. The overall effect — thousands of cave openings in a sheer limestone cliff above a Mesopotamian river — is one of the most visually extraordinary landscapes in Turkey.

Several key Hasankeyf monuments were physically relocated before the dam flooded the lower town: the Zeynel Bey Mausoleum (15th century, magnificent tiled dome) was moved 2 km uphill and reassembled stone by stone. The El Rizk Mosque minaret was similarly relocated. The new Hasankeyf Cultural Park presents these monuments in a landscaped park with interpretive displays covering the full 10,000-year settlement history.