Çorum, Hattuşa, Amasya

ÇORUM/HATTUŞA

Çorum region has been the scene of important civilizations in prehistoric and historical times and has been a cradle to many civilizations for thousands of years in a row.

Hattusa, the capital of Hittites, of whom cultural data from seven thousand years ago were encountered and who established the first organized state in Anatolia, is located within the borders of Çorum.

Çorum is one of the places to see with its exceptional natural beauties and living traditional cultural structure. In the natural wonder İncesu Canyon (İncesu Kanyonu), home to the Mother Goddess Cybele; it is also possible to do alternative activities such as trekking, cycling, caravan, camping, jeep safari in Kargı, Osmancık and İskilip plateaus.

Hattusa

Since 1986, Hattusa, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List has been located within the borders of Çorum province. According to Hittite written sources on UNESCO’s “World Memory List”, Hattusa became the capital of the Hittites when Hattusili I came to power (1665-1640 BCE). It is known that most of the buildings that remained from the city and can be traced, are from the 13th century BCE.  In Büyükkale, where the royal buildings are located, ruins of a large palace have been revealed, with courtyards surrounded by masted tunnels, residences, warehouse buildings and a large reception room.

With the fall of the Hittite Empire just after 1200 BCE, the Anatolian Bronze Ages also ends. However, the settlement date of the land of Hattusa city continues. At the beginning of the 12th century BCE, the new settlement, which dates to the Early Iron Age, began to turn into a hick town reflecting the Phrygian effects and to grow only in the eighth century BCE.

The settlement in Hattusa continues during the Persian period. Hattusa also has traces of settlement and fortification belonging to the Hellenistic period, Galatians, Rome and Byzantium.

Yazılıkaya Temple

Hattusha’s most impressive holy site is the Open-Air Temple of Yazılıkaya, hidden among the high cliffs slightly outside the city. In this open-air temple used for New Year celebrations of the period, the country’s important gods and goddesses are engraved in rows as reliefs on the rock. Yazılıkaya that can be visited in two sections, rooms A and B, reflects the Hittite pantheon (all ancient Gods and Goddesses) with its majestic rock descriptions.   It is thought that Yazılıkaya, considered the national temple of the Hittite Empire, was isolated from the outside world by a wall during the first construction period; its second phase and the reliefs in the Grand Gallery have been built at the time of Hattusili III, and the Tudhaliya relief in the Grand Gallery, Small Gallery and the third phase of the temple at the time of Tudhaliya IV.

The national temple of the Hittite Empire, now called Yazılıkaya, is located two kilometers northeast of Hattuşaş (Boğazköy). In front of this cult site, an open-air temple built on natural rock, there are temple structures built later and belonging to three different periods. In the first period, a siege wall was built that isolated the rock temple from the outside world, in the second phase a temple was added in the Hittite tradition along with the monumental entrance structure, in the third period, the eastern wing of the main structure was transformed into a more useful entrance in front of the Small Gallery. In the relief of twelve underground gods, which are the first figures of Room A, the meeting of God Teshub and Goddess Hepat, the main subject on the back wall, is seen. At the end of the goddess figures, opposite the main scene, there is Tudhaliya IV, the greatest figure of this open-air temple.

Alacahöyük
Alacahöyük, 45 km southwest of Çorum, a very important cult (religious ceremony) and art center in the Old Bronze Age and Hittite Age. In Alacahöyük, there are four civilization ages that were uncovered; The Age of The First Civilization; is represented by Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk-Ottoman periods. On the first cultural floor, the mound was completely inhabited during the Late Phrygian Era. This floor of small houses, according to its ceramics, is no older than 650 BCE. The typical unfortified representative of the Hittite Imperial Age that is built on a plain, with its sanctuary, large buildings, private block houses, streets, great and small aqueducts, city wall, one of them sphinx decorated with embossed mid-stadiums, and the other with monumental gates with postern, forms the second cultural floor of the mound. Built with andesite blocks on a limestone foundation, the Sphinx Gate is 10 meters wide. The Alacahöyük third civilization floor is formed by the Old Bronze Age (2500-2000 BCE). Alacahöyük Old Bronze Age Dynasty Tombs, which contributed a lot to the enlightenment of the indigenous Hatti Civilization, which is the leading source of cultures that led to the Hittite culture, are the most important finds of this age.

Sapinuwa (Ortaköy)

Sapinuwa (Ortaköy), one of the important cities of the Hittite state is 53 km southeast of Çorum, around the Çekerek River. Located at a strategic point in the Hittite Era due to its political and geographical location, it is an important military and religious center. In addition to those written in Hittite, there are administrative, military, religious and fortune texts written in Hattic, Hurrian and Akkadian, in the archive of cuneiform tablets and fragments uncovered during the Ortaköy excavations and the number of which reached four thousand.

 

Çorum Museum

Çorum Museum is a museum with very important assets, where works from the deep archaeological past of the city are exhibited. On the first floor of the Archaeological Art Hall in the museum, a chronological display is being made that begins with the Chalcolithic Period artifacts found during the Alacahöyük, Kuşsaray and Büyük Güllücek excavations. Alacahöyük excavation finds from the Old Bronze Age are also being exhibited in this hall. You can also see the Hüseyindede Vase, which is considered one of the most important finds of depicted artworks in the old Hittite period, in the museum.

Hittite-era artifacts uncovered in archaeological excavations within the borders of Çorum and the architectural section of the structures uncovered in Boğazköy-Hattuşa are exhibited in company with magazines, photographs and promotional signs. The bronze sword belonging to the Hittite King Tudhaliya II, which has a special place in the museum collection and a cuneiform script on it, is also displayed on the same floor.

On the second floor, which begins with documents in Hittite (tablets with cuneiform inscription), clay seal printed bullae found in archives in the Boğazköy-Hattusa excavations are chronologically followed up by tablets with cuneiform inscription and seal printed bullae, Ortaköy-Sapinuwa excavation finds.  In addition to the small finds of Ortaköy-Sapinuwa excavation, seals from Hittite and contemporary periods can also be seen on this floor.

Alacahöyük Museum

Alacahöyük Museum, which produces services depending on Çorum Museum (Çorum Müzesi), is located 45 km away from Çorum. The museum, which exhibits Chalcolithic, Old Bronze Age, Hittite and Phrygian artifacts uncovered during the Alacahöyük excavations that began in 1935, also displays the works of the Phrygian period.

Boğazköy Museum

The museum is in the Boğazkale district, 82 km southwest of Çorum. Boğazköy Museum is a local museum where the works uncovered in Hattusa excavations and coming to the museum from the surrounding area are stored and exhibited…  In the museum, where the works of the Hittite period are predominant; works from the Chalcolithic, Old Bronze, Hittite, Phrygian, Roman and Byzantine periods are also exhibited.

 

AMASYA ‘‘City of Princes’’

Amasya is in the southern part of Canik Mountains and is famous not only for its delicious apples, but also its 8.500-year history. With its deep-rooted culture and nature, the city is home to “Mount Harşena and the Rock Tombs of Pontic Kings,” which is included in UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, Amasya Castle and museums, Sultan Bayezid II Complex, Girls Palace, Yalıboyu Houses that extend on both sides of Yeşilırmak (Green River) and its traditional streets that smell of a history of 8,500 years.

Mount Harşena and the Rock Tombs of Pontic Kings

Mount Harşena and the Rock Tombs of Pontic Kings was included in UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2015. The rock tombs are the most monumental tombs in Anatolia and are important examples of rock tombs.

Hazeranlar Mansion (Museum House)

It is a building with four iwans with a central hall and is one of the buildings that best demonstrate the features of Ottoman Period traditional civilian architecture. Artifacts on display at Hazeranlar Mansion include dresses that reflect 19th century life, carpets and rugs, daily kitchen tools used at the mansion and women’s jewelry.

Museum of Princes

It is one of the major tourist attractions in Amasya and contains he statues of Ottoman Sultans who stayed in Amasya during their prince hood.

Sabuncuoğlu Şerefeddin Surgery and Medical History Museum

This is the only artifact remaining from the Ilkhanids, who played an important part in the fall of Anatolian Seljuk State. It is known as the first Anatolian hospital that treated its patients with music.

Yalıboyu Houses

Traditional Ottoman mansions and houses that line up both sides of Yeşilırmak river have an important place in Amasya’s architectural inventory and the remaining examples of old Amasya houses are mostly those built in the 19th century.