Under the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Sivas (ancient Sebasteia) was one of the most important cities in Anatolia — a major administrative and commercial centre on the Silk Road. The sultans and their courtiers endowed the city with a cluster of extraordinary buildings: madrasas, mosques and hospitals whose stone carving represents the peak of Seljuk artistic achievement.
The most extraordinary of these is 100 km away — in Divriği, a small town whose 13th-century mosque and hospital complex has been listed by UNESCO as one of the greatest works of Islamic architecture in the world.
- Region
- Central Anatolia
- Historical role
- Seljuk capital, Silk Road junction
- UNESCO site
- Divriği Ulu Camii (100 km west)
- Known for
- Seljuk madrasas, Sivas Congress, Kangal fish
Divriği Ulu Camii (UNESCO)
The Divriği Ulu Camii ve Şifahanesi (1228–1229), built by the Mengücek dynasty in the small town of Divriği, is one of the masterpieces of Islamic architecture — inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985. Its three doorways are covered in the most complex and elaborate stone carving in the Islamic world: a dense, three-dimensional jungle of geometric patterns, arabesques, animal motifs and floral scrollwork unlike anything in the Seljuk tradition or any other. The journey (100 km west of Sivas by train or road) is essential.
Sivas Congress Museum
The Sivas Kongresi ve Atatürk Müzesi (Congress and Ethnography Museum) occupies the Darülmuallimin school where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk presided over the Sivas Congress in September 1919 — a meeting that unified the Turkish nationalist resistance and set the framework for the Turkish state. The room where the congress met is preserved intact, with the original furniture and documents.
Seljuk Madrasas
Sivas has three exceptional 13th-century Seljuk madrasas within walking distance of each other. The Gök Medrese(1271, “Sky Blue Madrasa”) has a magnificent twin-minaret portal in brick and tile. The Çifte Minareli Medrese(1271) is the finest example of open-courtyard Seljuk architecture in Anatolia. The Buruciye Medresesi (1271) functions as a cultural centre with regular craft exhibitions.
Kangal Thermal Fish
Kangal, 96 km southwest of Sivas, is famous worldwide for its thermal fish spa — natural hot springs where small Garra rufafish (also called “doctor fish”) nibble dead skin cells from bathers’ bodies, a treatment proven effective for psoriasis. The Kangal spa has been operating for centuries; the fish are indigenous to this specific thermal spring and cannot be cultivated elsewhere.
Sivas in pictures
Frequently asked questions
Sivas
3Fly from Istanbul to Sivas Nuri Demirağ Airport (1.5 hrs, limited daily flights) or take the high-speed train to Ankara (3 hrs) then conventional train to Sivas (3–4 hrs). The scenic Ankara–Sivas train route passes through beautiful Anatolian landscape.
Absolutely yes — Divriği is one of the most extraordinary buildings in the Islamic world and one of Turkey's least-visited UNESCO sites. The stone carving on the three doorways has no parallel anywhere; even experts struggle to describe it. Take a day trip from Sivas (2 hrs by car, also by train).
Sivas is famous for Sivas köftesi (mixed meat and herb meatballs), tarhana soup (fermented grain and yogurt), and locally produced Kangal sucuğu (spiced sausage from Kangal). Also local cheeses and various regional pastries.