Turkiye

Safranbolu

WHS Score 3.07
rate
Votes 42 Average 3.38
Show votes
Votes for Safranbolu

0.5

  • Yevhen Ivanovych

2.0

  • Bill Maurmann
  • Zoë Sheng

2.5

  • Clyde
  • fmannucci
  • Ludvan
  • Randi Thomsen
  • Solivagant
  • Svein Elias

3.0

  • Chalamphol Therakul
  • Els Slots
  • GeorgeIng61
  • Hubert
  • Juha Sjoeblom
  • Martina Rúčková
  • Mazeman
  • Mikko
  • Thomas van der Walt
  • Tony H.
  • Wojciech Fedoruk

3.5

  • Alexander Lehmann
  • Hasco
  • Jeffrey Chai Ran
  • Luke LOU
  • Ssong.x
  • Stanislaw Warwas
  • Tarquinio_Superbo
  • usagi1974

4.0

  • Alexander Barabanov
  • bergecn
  • Bin
  • Ivan Rucek
  • Kevin McFarland
  • Mike
  • tony0001

4.5

  • Lembu
  • Rafał Kałczuga
  • Szucs Tamas

5.0

  • AYB
  • Can SARICA
  • ferhatdonmez
  • Nihal Ege

The City of Safranbolu is an example of a typical Ottoman trade town.

It has played a key role in the caravan trade on the main route between Europe and the Orient. The name of the town derives from saffron, since Safranbolu was a trading place and a center for growing saffron. In the Old Town, situated in a deep ravine, many public and domestic buildings have been preserved.

Community Perspective: A nice town worth a couple of hours. It attracts a lot of daytrippers, so be early or stay overnight. Restaurants, guest houses and handicraft shops nowadays occupy the timber frame old buildings. Check out some of the panoramic viewpoints around the city for an overview of the built ensemble.

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
City of Safranbolu (ID: 614)
Country
Turkiye
Status
Inscribed 1994 Site history
History of Safranbolu
1992: Deferred
More Info on boundaries
1994: Inscribed
Inscribed
WHS Type
Cultural
Criteria
  • ii
  • iv
  • v
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
News Article
  • Jan. 30, 2017 dailysabah.com — Ottoman fountains to be restored in Safranbolu

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Urban landscape: Arabic and Middle Eastern
Travel Information
Ankara Hotspot
Ankara Hotspot
(tens of daily buses, 2 hours 45 mins, check flixbus)
Recent Connections
View all (10) .
Connections of Safranbolu
History
  • Ottoman Empire
    "it set a standard in public and domestic architecture that exercised a great influence on urban development over a large area of the Ottoman Empire" (OUV)
Architecture
Religion and Belief
  • Notable mosques
    Several mosques, dating from 1322 (Old Mosque, Sunni) til the 19th century Kacak and Hamadiye mosques
Human Activity
  • Spice Route
    The name of the town derives from "saffron" - Safranbolu was a trading place and a center for growing saffron.
Constructions
Timeline
  • Built in the 14th century
    The surviving Old Mosque, Old Bath and Süleyman Pasha Medrese were built in 1322. The caravan trade reached its apogee in the 17th century and the city also holds many constructions from that period.
WHS Hotspots
  • Ankara Hotspot
    (tens of daily buses, 2 hours 45 mins, check flixbus)
News
dailysabah.com 01/30/2017
Ottoman fountains to be restored i…

Community Reviews

Show full reviews
First published: 18/09/21.

Clyde

Safranbolu

Safranbolu (Inscribed)

Safranbolu by Clyde

I visited Safranbolu as my first stop for 2 nights during my Spring 2021 road trip round Turkey. Having previously visited Istanbul and Edirne already, and due to the interstate lockdowns and restrictions imposed after Ramadan, I decided not to risk getting blocked in Istanbul so I drove straight to Safranbolu during the early hours of the day upon arrival in Istanbul Grand Airport.

Safranbolu is a typical Ottoman city made up of several small districts or neighborhoods with typical buildings and streets. It played a key role in the caravan trade over many centuries and even though the city underwent a deep process of industrialisation due to the huge iron and steel enterprises in the 20th century, the traditional aspects of the Ottoman city surprisingly remained pretty much intact. Even though the city lacks the iconic monuments of Bursa for example, its ensemble is much more unique as an Ottoman city and this can be admired from the several panoramic viewpoints around the city.

Three distinct historic districts are listed in this WHS: Çukur, the central market place area of the inner city, Kıranköy and Bağlar (the vineyards). Çukur lies in the lower part of Safranbolu bordered between two rivers. Here the highlight for me was wandering around the curvy narrow streets of the market, which are surrounded by the houses and workshops of Anatolian craftsmen and "nomads" who in the past continously left Asia.

In contrast, Kıranköy was formerly a non-Muslim district, with a socio-architectural …

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First published: 12/06/19.

Wojciech Fedoruk

Safranbolu

Safranbolu (Inscribed)

Safranbolu by Wojciech Fedoruk

Safranbolu was our first stop during our trip to Turkey in late April / early May 2019. Going there by car is quite easy, from Istanbul it takes around 4 hours, mostly on highway Istanbul-Ankara. Proximity of Istanbul makes Safranbolu a popular site – there were quite many tourists on Saturday afternoon, but mostly Turkish and only a few foreigners.

Safranbolu was inscribed for well preserved center, being a good example of a typical Ottoman city of pre-industrial era. And indeed it seems really authentic and most of the buildings saved their original shape with white walls and brown wooden frames. Many of them serve as restaurants, guest houses or handicraft shops. One of the most symbolic buildings is local hammam Cinci, located near the main square, with conspicuous number of domes.

To fully admire the beauty of the town, one must climb up the hill with former palace, serving as local museum. It is not far away from the center and the panorama makes the short climb worthwhile. The museum is also quite interesting and presents daily life of craftsmen and merchants centuries ago.

The town's name comes from saffron, a spice that still is produced nearby. Safranbolu is proud of its saffron heritage – there is a big monument of this plant in the center, you can eat saffron ice cream or buy saffron soap, perfumes etc.

Overall, Safranbolu is a very nice town which is worth a visit. It is not very big …

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First published: 19/09/08.

Peter Day

Safranbolu

Safranbolu (Inscribed)

Safranbolu by Els Slots

August 2008. Safranbolu is a lovely old town stuffed with the beautiful wood frame houses built by the merchants. Some of these are open as museum houses, others have been turned into guest houses - some well, others not. Very relaxing to wander round the narrow lanes of the old town, scramble up to the castle and clock tower for a panoramic view, take a tour of some surrounding areas to take in the caves, the ancient aquaduct. Doesn't feel over-run by tourists.

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