Turkiye
Safranbolu
Safranbolu by Els Slots
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
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Inscribed 1994
Site history
History of Safranbolu
- 1994: Inscribed
- Inscribed
- 1992: Deferred
- More Info on boundaries
- WHS Type
- Cultural
- Criteria
- ii
- iv
- v
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Related Resources
- ktb.gov.tr — Safranbolu city
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
Recent Connections
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Spice Route
The name of the town derives from "saff… -
Ankara Hotspot
(tens of daily buses, 2 hours 45 mins, … -
Clock Tower
Safranbolu Watchtower, built in 1797 wi…
Connections of Safranbolu
- History
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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)
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- Architecture
- Religion and Belief
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Notable mosques
Several mosques, dating from 1322 (Old Mosque, Sunni) til the 19th century Kacak and Hamadiye mosques
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- Human Activity
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Spice Route
The name of the town derives from "saffron" - Safranbolu was a trading place and a center for growing saffron.
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- Constructions
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Sundial
19C, in the courtyard of Köprülü Mehmet Paşa Cami -
Clock Tower
Safranbolu Watchtower, built in 1797 with an English clock inside -
Caravanserai
Cinci Han (1645) is one of the big, little mixed caravansarays established on historical silk road laying from China to Anatolia -
Baths
Old Bath
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- Timeline
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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.
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- WHS Hotspots
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Ankara Hotspot
(tens of daily buses, 2 hours 45 mins, check flixbus)
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News
- dailysabah.com 01/30/2017
- Ottoman fountains to be restored i…
Recent Visitors
Visitors of Safranbolu
- Afshin Iranpour
- Alberto Rodriguez Gutierrez
- Alexander Barabanov
- Alexander Lehmann
- A. Mehmet Haksever
- andyng-site
- Angel Ying Liu
- Atila Ege
- AYB
- BaziFettehenne
- bergecn
- Bill Koo
- Bill Maurmann
- Bin
- Brett Baumann
- Can SARICA
- Chalamphol Therakul
- Cheryl
- Christian Wagner
- Clyde
- Corinne Vail
- CynthiaSam
- Dimitar Krastev
- Elaine McArdle
- Els Slots
- Erik Jelinek
- Evgenii
- Fan Yibo
- Felicité
- ferhatdonmez
- fmannucci
- GeorgeIng61
- ge zhang
- Hadrianus
- Harry Mitsidis
- Hasco
- H Beswick
- henryjiao18
- Hubert
- Iain Jackson
- Ivan Rucek
- Izzet Ege
- Janos
- Jarek Pokrzywnicki
- Jawnbeary
- Jeffrey Chai
- Jonas Kremer
- JoshHad
- Judit Andrea Juhász
- Juha Sjoeblom
- Kevin McFarland
- Knut
- Lado Joel
- Lembu
- liu tuo
- Loic Pedras
- Longdutch
- Lucas Del Puppo
- Ludvan
- Luis Filipe Gaspar
- Luke LOU
- Maciej Gil
- Martin
- Martina Rúčková
- MaYumin
- Mazeman
- mg:1
- Michal Marciniak
- Mike
- Mikko
- Milan Jirasek
- Miloš Tašković
- mkmor9913
- Nihal Ege
- Patrik
- Peter Day
- plutomu
- Rafał Kałczuga
- Randi Thomsen
- reinhardt
- Reza
- Roger Ourset
- Roman Bruehwiler
- Roman Koeln
- Sascha Grabow
- SHIHE HUANG
- Solivagant
- Ssong.x
- Stanislaw Warwas
- Svein Elias
- Szucs Tamas
- Tarquinio_Superbo
- Thomas Buechler
- Thomas van der Walt
- tony0001
- Tony H.
- usagi1974
- Vanessa Buechler
- Werner Huber
- Wojciech Fedoruk
- Yevhen Ivanovych
- Zoë Sheng
- Zos M
Community Reviews
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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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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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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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