The Underground Water Structures in Gaziantep; Livas and Kastels

Photo by Can Sarica.

The Underground Water Structures in Gaziantep; Livas and Kastels is part of the Tentative list of Turkiye in order to qualify for inclusion in the World Heritage List.

The Underground Water Structures in Gaziantep comprise a medieval public water management system. It consists of underground water tunnels (livas) that bring water to the city and the water structures (kastel) that open the water coming from these tunnels for use. A network system of livas and six kastels have survived.

Map of The Underground Water Structures in Gaziantep; Livas and Kastels

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The coordinates shown for all tentative sites were produced as a community effort. They are not official and may change on inscription.

Community Reviews

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Philipp Peterer

Switzerland - 26-Aug-22 -

The Underground Water Structures in Gaziantep; Livas and Kastels (T) by Philipp Peterer

I flew in and out of Gaziantep to cover WHS in eastern Turkey and visited the town on my last day. The proposal talks about structures in plural. There might be several structures left, but there is only one fountain open for visits. It is more or less correctly marked on Google Maps as “Pisirici Mescidi Ve Kasteli”. The Google entry says it is open around the clock, but I highly doubt this is true. Just go for office hours to make sure you get in. There was a tiny house with a guard and next to it stairs leading down to the kastel. The guard just let me in. There seems to be no ticket fee.

What you can see down there is basically one room. A nice room with a fountain and small side niches, but still one small room. There was some information in English available, but even including reading those it’s hardly more than a 15 minutes visit. Not sure is this is enough for enscription.

 

Spending 15 minutes in a hole is not the only reason to visit Gaziantep. The Zeugma museum is clearly worth a visit. I also visited the castle with its very patriotic and rather tacky panorama museum inside. Further, the town is known for good food. I had a nice dinner in İmam Çağdaş Kebap ve Baklava restaurant. While I have a question mark behind this TWHS, I can recommend a visit to Gaziantep.


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Full Name
The Underground Water Structures in Gaziantep; Livas and Kastels
Country
Turkiye
Added
2018
Type
Cultural
Categories
Structure - Civic and Public Works
Link
By ID
2018 Added to Tentative List

The site has 1 locations

The Underground Water Structures in Gaziantep; Livas and Kastels: Pişirici Mescit and Kastel (T)
WHS 1997-2024