Kırşehir is a city in Turkey. It is the seat of Kırşehir Province and Kırşehir District. Its population is 162,989 (2023).

History

thumb|left|Malkaya is a monument with rock inscriptions that belongs to [[Hittites civilization.]]

The history of Kırşehir dates back to the Hittites. During the period of the Hittites, the basin of Kırşehir was known as the country of "Ahiyuva", meaning "the Land of the Achaeans", as the Greeks were known to the Hittites. This basin also took the name Cappadocia at the time of the Romans and Byzantines.

200px|thumb|left|Kırşehir Sign in the city centre.

Kırşehir was once known as Aquae Saravenae. The Seljuks took the city in the 1070s and bestowed the current name. In Turkish, "Kır Şehri" means "steppe city" or "prairie city". It became the chief town of a sanjak in the Ottoman vilayet of Angora, which possessed, 1912, 8,000 inhabitants, most of them Muslim Turks.

Kırşehir Castle

Kırşehir Castle is located on a hill mound, believed to have been built in the 4th century.

It covers an area of 10 acres. It is thought to have been built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. Nothing remains from the castle.

Geographical center of the world

thumb|Tomb of Ashik Pasha

thumb|[[Yunus Emre Tomb in Ulupınar.]]

thumb|Sunflower cultivation is an important part of the agriculture in Kırşehir

The village of Seyfe within Kırşehir district is considered the geographical center of Earth, as it lies at the intersection of the 39th parallel north and the 34th meridian east.

Ecclesiastical history

Metropolitan Archbishopric of Mocissus

Mocissus was also a Christian bishopric, and became a metropolitan see when, as Procopius (De ædif., V, iv) informs us, Justinian divided Cappadocia into three provinces and made this fortified site in north-western Cappadocia metropolis of Cappadocia Tertia, giving it the name of Justinianopolis. Nothing else is known of its history, and its name should perhaps be written Mocessus. There is no doubt that the site of Mocissus, or Mocessus, is that which is occupied by the modern city of Kırşehir.

Only a few of its bishops are known: the earliest, Peter, attended the Fifth Ecumenical Council (Second Council of Constantinople, 536); the last, whose name is not known, was a Catholic, and was consecrated after the mid-15th century Catholic Council of Florence by Patriarch Metrophanes II of Constantinople.

Notable people

  • Uğur Mumcu, investigative journalist
  • Neşet Ertaş, Folk singer
  • Lütfi Müfit Özdeş, politician
  • , folk musician
  • Nur al-Din ibn Jaja, Emir of Kırşehir from 1261 to 1277
  • , Ṣūfī spiritual leader, Turkish poet

<gallery class="center">

File:Kirsehir aerial view.jpg|View of Kırşehir from an airplane

File:Ahi_Evran_Mosque_-_panoramio_(1).jpg|Ahi Evran Tomb front view

File:Ahi_Evran_Mosque_-_panoramio.jpg|Ahi Evran Tomb side view

File:Apple_Farm_-_panoramio.jpg|Apple farm in Kırşehir

File:Cugun.jpg|Cügün (Cogun) lake

File:Üçayak Gesamt.jpg|The ruins of the Üçayak Byzantine Church

File:Kentpark_at_Night_-_panoramio.jpg|View of Kent Park at night

File:Kent_Park_-_panoramio.jpg|View of the city during the day

File:Winter_in_Hilla_Park_-_panoramio.jpg|Winter in Hilla Park

File:Özbağ-Kırşehir_Merkez-Kırşehir,_Turkey_-_panoramio.jpg|Construction of the new mosque in Özbağ in Kırşehir, Turkey

File:Gondolas_of_Kentpark_-_panoramio.jpg|Gondolas in Kentpark

</gallery>

References

  • GigaCatholic with titular incumbent biography links
  • Kirsehir Portal