Safranbolu

Safranbolu is a town in Karabük Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Safranbolu District.<ref name=ilce>İlçe Belediyesi Template:Webarchive, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 1 March 2023.</ref> Its population is 52,999 (2022).<ref name=tuik>Template:Cite web</ref> It is about 9 km north of the city of Karabük, Template:Convert north of Ankara and about 100 km south of the Black Sea coast. The town's historic names in Greek were Theodoroupolis (Θεοδωρούπολις, i.e. city of Theodorus or female Theodora) and later Saphrampolis (Σαφράμπολις). Its former names in Turkish were Zalifre and Taraklıborlu. It was part of Kastamonu Province until 1923 and Zonguldak Province between 1923 and 1995. The town lies at an elevation of Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

According to the Ottoman General Census of 1881/82-1893, the kaza of Safranbolu had a total population of 52,523, consisting of 49,197 Muslims and 3,326 Greeks.<ref>Kemal Karpat (1985), Ottoman Population, 1830-1914, Demographic and Social Characteristics, The University of Wisconsin Press, p. 138-139</ref>

The Old Town preserves many historic buildings, with 1008 registered historical artifacts. These are: 1 private museum, 25 mosques, 5 tombs, 8 historical fountains, 5 Turkish baths, 3 caravanserais, 1 historical clock tower, 1 sundial and hundreds of houses and mansions. Also, there are mounds of ancient settlements, rock tombs and historical bridges. The Old Town is situated in a deep ravine in a fairly dry area in the rain shadow of the mountains. The New Town can be found on the plateau about two kilometers west of the Old Town.

The name of the town derives from "saffron" and the Greek word polis (πόλις) meaning "city",<ref name=WorldHeritage>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Cornucopia>Template:Cite web</ref> since Safranbolu was a trading place and a center for growing saffron.<ref name=WorldHeritage/><ref name=Cornucopia/> Today, saffron is still grown at the village of Davutobası to the east of Safranbolu, with a road distance of 22 kilometres.<ref name=WorldHeritage/><ref name=Cornucopia/>

Safranbolu was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1994 due to its well-preserved Ottoman era houses and architecture.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gallery

• File:20180107 Safranbolu 1946 (39779008132).jpg
• File:20180107 Safranbolu 1943 (39779017602).jpg
• File:20180107 Safranbolu 1942 (39810646531).jpg
• File:20180107 Safranbolu 1940 (39810654251).jpg
• File:20180107 Safranbolu 1941 (24940479487).jpg
• File:20180107 Safranbolu 1945 (39101010504).jpg
• File:20180107 Safranbolu 1993 (39778928982).jpg
• File:20180107 Safranbolu 2001 (25938148028).jpg
• File:20180107 Safranbolu 2067 (28031784569).jpg
• File:Old Government House - 2014.10 - panoramio.jpg

Sister cities

• Template:Flagicon Elabuga, Russia.<ref>Elabuga and Safranbolu become sister cities Template:Webarchive</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Ohrid, North Macedonia

Notable natives

• Karabaşzade Hüseyin Efendi (Cinci Hoca) - Mentor of Ottoman Sultan İbrahim in the 17th century
• Safranbolulu Izzet Mehmet Pasha, 18th century Ottoman Grand Vizier, in office 1794–1798
• Türker İnanoğlu (b. 1936), film producer
• Ali Gümüş (1940–2015), President of the Wrestling Commission of the International Sports Press Association (Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive, AIPS), journalist and author

See also

• Amasya
• List of World Heritage Sites in Turkey

Further reading

• Template:Cite conference
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External links

• Template:Wikivoyage-inline
• UNESCO World Heritage - Safranbolu
• Safranbolu: A Town of Traditional Houses