Erzurum

Erzurum is the largest city in eastern Turkey. Situated on the eastern high plateau, the winters, although extremely cold, offer great skiing in the Palandoken Mountains.

Its strategic position on the crossroads between Russia, Persia, and Constantinople caused the city to be under many different armies, including Arabs, Armenians, Byzantines, Mongols, Persians, Romans, Russians, Selcuks and Ottomans.

Nearly all the sites in Erzurum are Islamic: the Twin Minaret Seminary built by Alaettin Keykubal II; the 12th century Ulu Cami; Uc Kumbetler, a complex of three Selcuk tombs; 16th century Ottoman mosques; the Erzurum Citadel, originally erected by Theodosius in the 5th century; Yakutiye Seminary, a Mongol theological seminary dating from 1310, which now houses the Turkish & Islamic Arts and Ethnography Museum.

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