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Hasankeyf: the submerged town
Photo: Murat Düzyurt / Unsplash, Unsplash Licence
Editor's route Dark tourism

Hasankeyf: the submerged town

Hasankeyf, thousands of years old, on the banks of the Tigris, now lies beneath the reservoir of the Ilısu Dam. In the Culture Park of the new settlement, visit the museum, the relocated Artuqid Baths and the Tomb of Zeynel Bey, then look out from the lake shore to where the old town once stood.

DurationHalf day
Walk≈ 1.5 km
Stop3
Tickets0
AP

AnatoliaPass editorsDark tourism and industrial heritage collection · last checked 22 October 2026

Respect guidelines
  • People here left their homes, graves and villages to the water; do not photograph the lives of those living in the new settlement as if they were a spectacle.
  • Do not climb over the protective fences around the relocated monuments.
  • Do not swim from the lake shore or climb down the rocks; the shore is steep and the water deep.

Dark tourism means visiting places where people have confronted suffering, loss and hard labour: prisons, dungeons, abandoned and submerged towns, underground shelters, and the factories and mines that paid the price of industry. Every place in this collection can be visited legally and with permission; there are no routes into abandoned private property or building sites, or routes built around watching neighbourhoods where people live. Battlefields, martyrs' cemeteries and memorial sites are in the “Remembrance and mourning” collection. Please respect the story of the places you visit.

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  1. 1

    Hasankeyf Museum

    Start: new Hasankeyf, Culture Park; ≈ 1 hour by car from central Batman · stay 90 min

    A museum displaying some 4,000 finds from excavations in the area later flooded by the reservoir; every period of the town from the Palaeolithic to the Ottomans, plus models of the buildings now under water.

    Hasankeyf Museum
    Photo: VOA (Voice of America) / Wikimedia Commons, public domain

    According to one source it is open daily 09:00–17:30; check current hours with the Batman Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism before you go.

  2. 2

    Artuqid Baths and the relocated buildings

    ≈ 7 min walk (500 m) within the Culture Park · stay 30 min

    The 1,500-tonne Artuqid Baths, moved about 3 km in August 2018. Buildings such as the minaret of the Er-Rızk Mosque and the İmam Abdullah Zawiya were also moved to the park; in front of each one, signs explain where it used to stand.

    Artuqid Baths and the relocated buildings
    Photo: VOA (Voice of America) / Wikimedia Commons, public domain

    Ask the staff whether you are allowed inside the buildings.

  3. 3

    Tomb of Zeynel Bey · lake shore

    ≈ 7 min walk (600 m) to the lake shore · stay 40 min

    Built in the 15th century for Zeynel Bey, son of the Akkoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan, the tomb with its glazed-brick decoration was moved about 2 km in May 2017. Today it looks out over the reservoir; from here you can see the cliffs opposite and where the old town lies under the water.

    Tomb of Zeynel Bey · lake shore
    Photo: VOA (Voice of America) / Wikimedia Commons, public domain

    Do not enter the protected area around the tomb.

One more day? Bursa.

Outside Istanbul

≈ 2 h 15 min · fast ferry + bus · Day trip

Why here: The first Ottoman capital. The Green Mosque, the Grand Mosque and Koza Han make an easy day trip; we suggest it if you are staying in Istanbul for more than four days. Not part of this route.

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