UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Turkey: the complete list

How many UNESCO World Heritage Sites are in Turkey?

Turkey has 22 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, according to UNESCO’s country record checked on 25 October 2026. The total consists of 20 cultural sites and two mixed sites. The first inscriptions date to 1985. The most recent is Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe, added in 2025.

If you are building a travel checklist, use those 22 inscriptions as your starting point. UNESCO also records 80 tentative entries for Turkey. These concern places being considered for future nomination. They belong to a separate list and do not increase the inscribed total.

The two mixed sites are Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, and Hierapolis-Pamukkale. Both have cultural and natural values recognized together. Istanbul, Nemrut Dağ and the other cultural entries belong to the cultural category.

List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Turkey

The complete list below follows inscription dates. You can use the locations to connect a familiar place name with its UNESCO entry. Remember that an inscription can cover several places: the medieval wooden mosques form one entry containing five buildings.

1. Historic Areas of Istanbul — 1985. This cultural inscription covers four areas rather than the whole city. They are Sultanahmet Archaeological Park, Süleymaniye, Zeyrek and the area around the land walls. The boundaries matter when you describe Istanbul’s UNESCO status.

1. Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia — 1985. Göreme-Cappadocia entered the list as mixed heritage. Its inscription recognizes cultural and natural values together. It is one of Turkey’s two mixed entries, alongside Hierapolis-Pamukkale.

1. Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği — 1985. Located in Sivas, this entry brings a mosque and a hospital together under one inscription. Divriği joined Istanbul and Göreme-Cappadocia among Turkey’s first World Heritage inscriptions in 1985.

1. Hattusha: the Hittite Capital — 1986. Hattusha is in Çorum. Its listed name identifies the site as the Hittite capital. It entered the World Heritage List in the year after Turkey’s first three inscriptions.

1. Nemrut Dağ — 1987. Located in Adıyaman, Nemrut Dağ is a cultural World Heritage Site. UNESCO describes its burial mound as an accumulation of broken stone. The mound measures 145 metres in diameter and 50 metres in height.

1. Xanthos-Letoon — 1988. This inscription covers locations in Antalya and Muğla. Keep the paired name together when using the complete list: Xanthos-Letoon counts as one World Heritage entry. It was inscribed in the same year as Hierapolis-Pamukkale.

1. Hierapolis-Pamukkale — 1988. Located in Denizli, Hierapolis-Pamukkale is Turkey’s other mixed World Heritage Site. Like Göreme-Cappadocia, it has both cultural and natural recognition. Its paired name represents one inscription in the national total.

1. City of Safranbolu — 1994. Safranbolu is in Karabük. It joined the list after the 1988 inscriptions of Xanthos-Letoon and Hierapolis-Pamukkale. The UNESCO entry is the City of Safranbolu, so use that name on your checklist.

1. Archaeological Site of Troy — 1998. Troy’s listed archaeological site is in Çanakkale. It entered the World Heritage List in 1998. In inscription order, it comes after Safranbolu and before the Selimiye Mosque and its complex.

1. Selimiye Mosque and its Social Complex — 2011. This entry is in Edirne. Its name includes both the mosque and its associated complex. Selimiye was inscribed after Troy and before the Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük.

1. Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük — 2012. Located in Konya, Çatalhöyük entered the list in 2012. Its listed name identifies its Neolithic character. Keep that historical description separate from the inscription year, which records when it joined UNESCO’s list.

1. Pergamon and its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape — 2014. Pergamon, or Bergama, is in İzmir. Its inscription concerns a multi-layered cultural landscape. It joined the list in the same year as Bursa and Cumalıkızık.

1. Bursa and Cumalıkızık: the Birth of the Ottoman Empire — 2014. The inscription brings Bursa and Cumalıkızık together. Its title explicitly connects them with the birth of the Ottoman Empire. Despite the paired place names, this is one World Heritage entry.

1. Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape — 2015. The fortress and gardens share one inscription. Both belong in the name when you compile the complete list. This cultural landscape entered the list in the same year as Ephesus.

1. Ephesus — 2015. Ephesus is in Selçuk, a district of İzmir. It is a separate inscription from Pergamon, which is also in İzmir. Ephesus joined the list one year after Pergamon’s inscription.

1. Archaeological Site of Ani — 2016. Ani is in Kars. The archaeological site entered the World Heritage List in 2016. It follows the Diyarbakır and Ephesus inscriptions in the sequence and precedes Aphrodisias.

1. Aphrodisias — 2017. Located in Aydın, Aphrodisias joined the list in 2017. Its inscription falls between Ani in 2016 and Göbeklitepe in 2018. Those dates describe their UNESCO recognition, rather than the age of the sites.

1. Göbeklitepe — 2018. Göbeklitepe is in Şanlıurfa. It entered the World Heritage List in 2018. On a checklist arranged by inscription year, it comes after Aphrodisias and before Arslantepe Mound.

1. Arslantepe Mound — 2021. Arslantepe is in Malatya. Its inscription dates to 2021. It follows Göbeklitepe in the national inscription sequence and comes before the two entries added in 2023.

1. Gordion — 2023. Gordion is in Polatlı, a district of Ankara. It entered the list in 2023. The medieval wooden hypostyle mosques were also inscribed that year, but Gordion has its own separate entry.

1. Wooden Hypostyle Mosques of Medieval Anatolia — 2023. This is one serial World Heritage inscription containing five mosques. The buildings include Ankara’s Aslanhane Mosque and Beyşehir’s Eşrefoğlu Mosque. Count the inscription once when calculating Turkey’s total.

1. Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe — 2025. Located in Manisa, this became Turkey’s 22nd World Heritage Site. The inscription pairs Sardis with the Lydian burial mounds of Bin Tepe. UNESCO gives the Lydian capital’s defensive wall a thickness of 20 metres.

Timeline

• 1985: Historic Areas of Istanbul, Göreme-Cappadocia, and Divriği Mosque and Hospital were inscribed.
• 1986: Hattusha joined the list.
• 1987: Nemrut Dağ was inscribed.
• 1988: Xanthos-Letoon and Hierapolis-Pamukkale joined.
• 1994: Safranbolu was inscribed.
• 1998: Troy joined the list.
• 2011: Selimiye Mosque and its Social Complex were inscribed.
• 2012: Çatalhöyük joined.
• 2014: Pergamon and Bursa-Cumalıkızık were inscribed.
• 2015: Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens, and Ephesus joined.
• 2016: Ani was inscribed.
• 2017: Aphrodisias joined.
• 2018: Göbeklitepe was inscribed.
• 2021: Arslantepe Mound joined.
• 2023: Gordion and the medieval wooden hypostyle mosques were inscribed.
• 2025: Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe joined.

Details you won’t find in guidebooks

Istanbul’s inscription has a precise scope: four areas, rather than the entire city. If you save places on your everyday map app, keep Sultanahmet Archaeological Park, Süleymaniye, Zeyrek and the land walls as separate labels. That makes the four-part inscription easier to follow.

The wooden mosque inscription contains Afyon Great Mosque, Sivrihisar Great Mosque, Ankara Aslanhane Mosque, Beyşehir Eşrefoğlu Mosque and Mahmut Bey Mosque. The last stands in Kasaba village in Kastamonu. These five buildings share the single inscription added in 2023.

Two measurements give a clearer sense of scale. UNESCO describes the defensive wall at Sardis as 20 metres thick. At Nemrut Dağ, the broken-stone burial mound is 145 metres across and 50 metres high. Wall thickness, mound diameter and mound height describe different dimensions.

FAQ

Sources

1. UNESCO — Türkiye whc.unesco.org
2. UNESCO — Historic Areas of Istanbul whc.unesco.org
3. Vikipedi — Türkiye’deki Dünya Mirasları listesi tr.wikipedia.org
4. Wikipedia — List of World Heritage Sites in Turkey en.wikipedia.org
5. UNESCO — Nemrut Dağ whc.unesco.org
6. UNESCO — Wooden Hypostyle Mosques of Medieval Anatolia whc.unesco.org
7. UNESCO — Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe whc.unesco.org

Image: CAPPADOCIA Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites. World Heritage List. Turkey. Hot Air Ballooning Cappadocia.jpg — Feridun F. Alkaya, CC0