Kayseri

Customs and traditions: although Kayseri's known history begins with the Hittites, traces of Assyrian trade and works from the prehistoric Bronze Age have also been found. Conquered by the Seljuk Turks a few years before the victory at Manzikert in 1071, Kayseri has since remained under Turkish states and principalities; older cultures faded and the city was shaped by Turkish-Islamic culture.

Folk dances: Kayseri's customs, dances and music carry the character of the Central Anatolian plateau. It is very rich in folk songs, mani (quatrains), tales, riddles and legends.

Folk literature: Kayseri has produced many famous folk poets, the best known being Âşık Kerem and Seyrânî.

Handicrafts: weaving and copperwork have been widespread since Seljuk times. Kayseri's carpets and kilims, decorated milk and water jugs and ewers were once very famous. Carpet weaving here was developed by the Seljuk Turks, and carpets from Kayseri, Bünyan, Yahyalı and Yeşilhisar are sought after at home and abroad; many homes have carpet looms. Other long-established crafts include decorative painting, wood carving, inlay and jewellery. Plasterwork, marble carving and reliefs are highly developed. Over the centuries the greatest Turkish architects, above all Mimar Sinan, came from this region.

Local dishes: fried içli köfte, mantı filled with sucuk meat, nevzine dessert, Circassian chicken pie and tray-baked mantı.

Dress: for women, the three-skirted dress, çinti, salta and cepken jackets, the embroidered bindallı gown, silk şalvar trousers, scarves edged with needle lace (oya) and decorated headdresses and sashes; for men, a conical lambswool cap, the sako (a kind of jacket), a sash and baggy trousers of wool or goat hair.

Education: Kayseri has been an important centre of culture and learning in Anatolia since Seljuk times. The world's first medical school was founded in 1206 as the Şifaiye Medrese. Literacy in Kayseri approaches 80%. There is no village without a school, and some villages even have a middle school. The province has 18 nursery schools, nearly 700 primary schools, nearly 100 middle schools, 13 vocational and technical middle schools and nearly 60 high schools and vocational high schools. Kayseri University, founded in 1978, was renamed Erciyes University in 1982.

The province has 25 libraries; the Raşit Efendi Library dates from the Ottoman period.

Source (in Turkish): http://www.kayserikent.com/site/page.asp?dsy_id=9691

Kayseri's history goes back to Kültepe (Kanesh), 22 kilometres away, which was inhabited from about 4000 BC to the end of the Roman period. Cuneiform tablets found in its karum (merchant quarter) record trade between Assyrian merchants and the local people.

In Roman times the city was called Caesarea; its older name was Mazaka. In the Byzantine period it was an important Christian centre, and many rock-cut churches survive. Emperor Justinian surrounded the city with walls in the 6th century.

The Seljuks took control of the area shortly after Manzikert. Under Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad, Kayseri became the second city after Konya and enjoyed its golden age; most of its finest buildings date from this period. Under the Ottomans it was one of the sanjak (district) centres of the province of Karaman.

Kayseri holds an important position, with rail and road links connecting the provinces of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia to the west and south. If you are travelling to Kayseri from elsewhere in Central Anatolia, the distances are short, so you can drive or take an intercity bus. By car it takes about 4 hours from Ankara, about 9.5 hours from Istanbul and 12 hours from İzmir.

Kayseri is one of the best-connected cities on the rail network. Its station, in service since 1927, is of strategic importance. Kayseri is one of the stops of the Eastern Express, which runs daily in each direction to Kars. The Erzurum Express, running daily between Ankara and Erzurum, also passes through Kayseri. The Erciyes Express runs every day between Kayseri and Adana, and the Lake Van Express from Ankara stops at Kayseri on its way to Tatvan.

If you want to get there faster, fly. Kayseri Airport is 5 km from the city and has both domestic and international flights. Daily flights from Istanbul take 1 hour 15 minutes, and direct flights from İzmir take 1.5 hours. From abroad you can reach Kayseri with a connection in Istanbul.

Kayseri is a province known for its industry. It has three organised industrial zones; the Mimarsinan and İncesu zones began production in 2005. The Kayseri Free Zone has the largest area of any free zone in Türkiye.

About 36 percent of the province's land is farmed. In livestock production, meat comes first and milk second. Kayseri supplies about 40 percent of Türkiye's trout fry.

The scale and variety of industrial production have also boosted foreign trade. The province has more than 20,000 commercial businesses, and deposits of asbestos, gold, copper, iron and marble are reported.