Nemrut: another world heritage

Nemrut  or Nemrud Mountain stretches for an area of 2,134mts in South-East Turkey. The mountain lies 40km north of the Kahta city near Adiyaman province. It is famous for the summit where lies a tomb-sanctuary girdled with huge effigies including the statue of Theos of Commagene  along  with two lions, two eagles and numerous Greek, Armenian and Iranian gods. These statues were once inscribed with the names of the gods. At present the tops of   these effigies are removed from the body and they lay scattered here and there. The damage caused is mainly a result of iconoclasm.

The ancient history goes on like this- the Romans after defeating the   Seleucid   Empire   at the Battle of Magnesia in 190BC,  established   new kingdoms on its territory. The Seleucid successor Commagene is known tooccupy allow land in between the Taurus the Euphrates Mountains. The state of Commagene was sort of culture where antics made up his mind to carry on a religious  ceremony including Greek and Persian gods. An art loving King Antiocus wished to have his grave on the summit of the Nemrut Mountain.

 

A German engineer, Charles Sister excavated the site in 1881 and in 1987 it was honored to be a world heritage by UNESCO.

April through October is a preferable visiting time for most tourists. It is advisable to start from Kahta Mountain and go directly to Nemrut Mountain. The Sun rises there ismesmerizing. Eminent places worth seeing are West terrace and West terrace, Arsemia or the old castle, New castle locally known as Eski Kahta Kalesi. After this comes the Candere Koprusu or the Roman Bridge followed by Black Bird Tumulus. Trips from Kahta are divided into different  tours which include Sunrise Tour, Daytime Tour and Sunset Tour. These  tours are arranged from Kahta on a regular basis. Adiyaman being the nearest townis a popular site for availability cars and buses to the site. A trip by helicopter is the most tantalizing one. Another Nemrut tour includes a night stay at Kommagene Wooden House, along Nemrut Tour and a mouth watering Kurdish Breakfast in Kahta. A full day trip includes all these only at 125tl. tours to Nemrut are also arranged from Malatya and Cappadocia. Tours are arranged from Cappadocia to Nemrut on every Monday and Thursday. One can also opt for bus or plane all over from Turkey to the city Malatya. Tourists are first taken to Malatya then heading towards Kahta making necessaryaccommodation in the center of the city. Tours the Malatya Airport, Diyarbakir Airport or They are arranged from Kahta to Nemrut Mountain. After the entire tour visitors are advised toreturn back either to Adiyaman  Airport . An entire tour from Cappodocia includes tour to Nemrud Mountain covering Sanliurfa andHarran,  Halfeti and Gaziantep and back to Cappadocia. These 2nights 3days tours are available for 175 euros per person. The tours  are included of all entrance tours costing of two nights andtwo breakfasts. Visitors  wishing toexplore the mountains may avail thebus service from Gomere toKayseri. This is enough for visitor’s information.