Hasankeyf

Hasankeyf was inhabited for thousands of years, a caravan town cut into limestone cliffs above the Tigris, with cave dwellings, a Roman-founded citadel and the piers of a great medieval bridge standing in the river.

In 2020 the reservoir of the Ilısu Dam flooded the lower town. Ahead of the filling, several monuments were moved: the tiled cylindrical tomb of Zeynel Bey, the minaret of the El Rızk Mosque and other structures were lifted and transported to a cultural park above the new water line, while the modern village was rebuilt on the hillside opposite.

What remains is a landscape in two registers — the citadel and cliff caves still above water, the old streets beneath it. It is a sobering place, and one of the clearest examples anywhere of what large dams cost in heritage.