Seyitgazi Tomb and Religious Complex
/ By Josh
Crowning a hilltop with domes and spires, Seyitgazi is the mausoleum of an 8th century warrior-saint whose legend made him the center of this sprawling religious complex.
A land of rolling hills and short craggy mountains, Eskişehir is a dry arid province rich in history and culture. Like all of Turkey the oldest signs of human settlement date back to the stone age, though it was in the Iron Age that the lands of Eskişehir would really flourish under the Phrygians.
Today the extraordinary remains of the Phrygians are Eskişehir’s greatest attraction. The south of Eskişehir is a landscape of cliff-ringed hills, eroded by wind and rain into fantastical shapes. The Phrygians took these rock spires and cliffs and built monuments, tombs, and entire cities by carving out the soft volvanic stone.
While the history of Eskişehir also includes chapters of Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman rule, Eskişehir’s other claim to fame is its soft white meerschaum stone. Known locally as Lületaşı, meerschaum is a light, porous, stone that resembles seafoam (a trait from which the stone got its name in German), and can easily be carved into beautiful shapes and designs. Most famously the meerschaum stone is carved into beautiful pipes, often in the shape of turban wearing sultans. As the world centre of meerschaum mining and carving, Eskişehir is a pipe smoker’s paradise.
Home to a pair of Universities, including Turkey’s largest, Eskişehir is a city of young people, cafes, bars, art, parks, and Museums.
