Antakya - Main Sights

Main Sights

The long and varied history has created many architectural sites of interest. There is much for visitors to see in Antakya, although many buildings have been lost in the rapid growth and redevelopment of the city in recent decades.

• Hatay Archaeology Museum has the second largest collection of Roman mosaics in the world.
• The rock-carved Church of St Peter, with its network of refuges and tunnels carved out of the rock, a site of Christian pilgrimage. There are also tombs cut into the rock face at various places along the Orontes valley.
• Old market district. It offers plenty of traditional shops, where you can explore what you have not seen before. It is exactly in the city centre, you are in when you see the sign Uzun Çarşı Caddesi.
• The seedy Gündüz cinema in the city centre was once used as parliament building of the Republic of Hatay.
• The waterfalls at the Harbiye / Daphne promenade.
• The Ottoman Habib-i Neccar Camii, the oldest mosque in Antakya and one of the oldest in Anatolia.
• The labyrinth of narrow streets and old Antakya houses. This disrict is the oldtown in fact.
• Titus/Vespasianus Tunnel-Samandagı. It is approximately 35 km. far from the centre.
• Beşikli Cave and Graves (the antique city of Seleukeia Pierria)
• St. Simon Monastery
• Bakras Castle
• The panoramic view of the city from the heights of the Habib-i Neccar Mountain

With its rich architectural heritage, Antakya is a member of the Norwich-based European Association of Historic Towns and Regions . The Roman bridge (thought to date from the era of Diocletian) was destroyed in 1972 during the widening and channelling of the Orontes.