Ahlat Seljuk Meydan Cemetary, the world's largest Turkish-Islamic cemetery on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Tentative List, welcomes visitors as an open-air museum offering a journey through history.
The tombs in Meydan Cemetery and in the old neighborhoods are scattered across 201 acres in the Ahlat district of southeastern Bitlis province.
Considered the largest Turkish-Islamic cemetery from the early period, the tombs are larger than usual, reaching a height of 3.5 meters (11.4 feet). They are ornamented on both sides and are famous for their interesting rectangular-prism shape.
In addition to the cist graves (small graves fashioned out of stone), there are also chamber-style underground tombs, which are similar to Turkic tombs found in Central Asia.
The tombs, also called the Orkhon Monuments, attract visitors for their majestic appearance as well as their fine stone engravings, dragons, palmettes, oil lamps and geometric motifs that often focus on leaf patterns. The symbols included on the stones held great importance for Turkic people across Anatolia and Central Asia.
The archaeological excavations started last year in Seljuk Meydan Cemetery following the discovery of the graves of 30 children.
