Adana - Page I
♦
View on the Seyhan River with the
Sabancı Merkez Camii
Adana is the fourth largest city of Turkey, after
Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir and has a population of over 2 million. The
city is located in the middle of the highly fertile Çukurova,
the ancient Cilician plain deposited by the rivers Seyhan and Ceyhan. Due to this fact,
Adana has always been an important city and agricultural center, described
in the books of the famous Turkish novelist Yaşar
Kemal. In more recent years the city has also developed as a large
industrial centre. Adana's wealth led to a rapid and chaotic growth and
nearly all of the old neighbourhoods have been demolished. The high
temperature and humidity make it less popular for tourism. However, Adana
has the only commercial airport in the region and was the starting point
of our trip along Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
Adana's most prominent monument is the
Sabancı Merkez Camii, an enormous beatiful new
six-minareted mosque whose white marble reflection sparkles in the Seyhan
river. The mosque was built by the industrial magnate Sakip Sabancı
and was opened in 1999. It is second in size only to the Sülemaniye
Camii in Istanbul. It is crowned by a 51 metre high dome and provides
space for 30,000 worshippers. The inside decoration tries to copy
Istanbul's Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Camii).
Among the other noteworthy buildings
are the Ulu Cami or Great Mosque and next to it the
Ramazanoğlu Türbesi.
The Ulu Cami was built in 1507 by Halil Bey emir of the Ramazanoğlu
Turks in a typical Syrian style. Unfortunately both
were closed at the moment of our visit.
Click on the thumbnails to get a greater picture
