Ahlat Seljuk Cemetery

The Meydanlık cemetery at Ahlat covers a large field above Lake Van and holds several thousand gravestones from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, usually called Seljuk though they belong to the Shah-Armen, Ayyubid, Mongol and Safavid eras - and they are unlike ordinary headstones: slabs of the local red-brown volcanic tuff, some over three metres tall, carved on every face with geometric interlace, rosettes, palmettes, muqarnas niches and long Kufic and thuluth inscriptions, and leaning at angles after centuries of earth movement. Many carry the names of the masons who cut them, which is rare and has let historians trace workshops across generations. It is the largest Turkish-Islamic cemetery of the Middle Ages and sits on Turkey's UNESCO World Heritage tentative list; the craft behind the stones, traditional Ahlat stonework, was inscribed in 2022 on UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. Around Ahlat are domed kümbet tombs, the ruins of the old town and a museum. The setting is open and bleak - the lake below, Nemrut Dağı's caldera behind, and very little shelter - and the stones look best in low sun.

The main sights

• The carved slabs - thousands of tall red tombstones.
• The mason signatures - carvers' names cut into the stone.
• The leaning rows - stones tilted by centuries of movement.
• The kümbet tombs - domed mausolea around the town.

When to go

May to October; winter on Lake Van is severe. Early morning or late afternoon, when low sun rakes across the carving and shows it properly.

Practical notes

The site is open and exposed with no shade and minimal interpretation. Stones are fragile - do not climb or lean on them. Ahlat has limited facilities.

Nearby

Nemrut Dağı's crater lakes are above Tatvan; Akdamar island and Van are round the lake.

Key facts