Kurdish History Journal
Surp Giragos in Diyarbakır, once the largest Armenian church in the Middle East — a monument to the Armenian presence in Amed, damaged in the 20th century and restored, a symbol of memory and endurance.
Read article →The Ahlat Seljuk cemetery on Lake Van — a vast medieval graveyard of thousands of monumental carved gravestones in red volcanic stone, with domed kümbet tombs, one of the largest of its kind.
Read article →The Behram Pasha Mosque, a 16th-century Ottoman mosque in old Diyarbakır — built of banded black and white stone, associated with the architect Sinan, the largest classical Ottoman mosque in the city.
Read article →The Four-Legged Minaret of the Sheikh Matar Mosque in Diyarbakır — a unique minaret raised on four stone columns in the old walled city, dating to around 1500 and rich in local legend.
Read article →The Zinciriye (Sultan Îsa) Medrese of Mardin, a late-14th-century Artuqid religious college — famed for its carved portal and fluted domes high above the Mesopotamian plain.
Read article →The Kasımiye Medrese of Mardin, a 15th-century religious college — famed for its domes, arcaded courtyard, and paradise water channel, a masterpiece of the city’s renowned stone-carving.
Read article →Stephen Mansfield, American author of The Miracle of the Kurds, brought the modern Kurdish story to Western readers and was honoured by Rudaw.
Read article →Hoşap Castle, the dramatic 17th-century fortress near Van — built in 1643 by the Kurdish Mahmudi prince Sarı Süleyman, a splendid monument of the age of the Kurdish emirates.
Read article →Shanidar Cave, the famous prehistoric site in the Bradost mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan — where Neanderthal remains and the ‘flower burial’ reshaped our understanding of these ancient humans.
Read article →Bekhal, a famous spring-fed waterfall in the mountains near Rawandiz in Iraqi Kurdistan — flowing year-round, with cafes built over the rushing water, one of the region’s favourite summer retreats.
Read article →Gali Ali Beg, the most famous waterfall in Iraqi Kurdistan — a cascade in the Rawanduz gorge country near Rawandiz, once pictured on the Iraqi banknote and a beloved natural icon of the region.
Read article →Saint Thaddeus Monastery, the Qara Kelisa or Black Church, an ancient Armenian monastery in north-western Iran — a UNESCO pilgrimage site and part of the multi-faith heritage of the wider region.
Read article →Sherwana Castle, the historic Jaff-dynasty castle at Kalar in Iraqi Kurdistan — a rare surviving Kurdish princely residence of the Garmian region, now restored as a museum.
Read article →The Kirkuk Citadel, the ancient settlement mound at the heart of Kirkuk — inhabited for thousands of years above the Khasa river, the historic soul of a multi-ethnic city in northern Iraq.
Read article →The Halabja Monument, the memorial in Halabja to the thousands of Kurdish civilians killed in the 1988 chemical attack — a place of mourning, remembrance, and resilience.
Read article →Korek Mountain, the high peak and cable-car resort above the Rawanduz gorge in Iraqi Kurdistan — snow-capped in winter, cool in summer, and one of the region’s most popular destinations.
Read article →The Anubanini relief, an ancient rock carving at Sarpol-e Zahab in Iranian Kurdistan — made over 4,000 years ago by the Lullubi, showing a king before a goddess, among the oldest reliefs of the region.
Read article →The Rawanduz Gorge, the dramatic river canyon in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan below Rawandiz — a wonder of sheer cliffs, waterfalls, and the famous Hamilton Road.
Read article →The Walls of Diyarbakır, the great black basalt ramparts around the old city of Amed — among the longest and best-preserved ancient city walls in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Read article →Mar Mattai, the ancient Syriac Orthodox monastery on Mount Alfaf above the Nineveh Plains — founded around 363, among the oldest monasteries in the world and famed for its Syriac manuscripts.
Read article →Ecbatana (Hegmataneh), the ancient capital of the Medes beneath modern Hamadan — a great capital of the Iranian world tied to the Median heritage many Kurds look back to.
Read article →Nineveh, the great capital of the Assyrian empire on the Tigris by Mosul — famed for its lamassu guardians and the library of Ashurbanipal, and destroyed in 612 BC by a coalition including the Medes.
Read article →Dara, the ancient Roman-Byzantine fortress city near Mardin — built in the 6th century against Persia, with vast cisterns, a dam, rock-cut tombs, and the famous 530 AD Battle of Dara.
Read article →The Great Mosque of Diyarbakır (Ulu Cami / Mizgefta Mezin) — one of the oldest mosques in Anatolia, in the walled old city of Amed, famous for its courtyard of reused ancient columns.
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