100,000 visitors to Rome's last garrison in the first 5 months

Zerzevan Castle, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List near the Çınar district of Diyarbakır and where excavations were carried out, hosted 100 thousand visitors in the first 5 months. While it is expected to host 500 thousand people by the end of the year, it is aimed that at least 1 million people will come to the area with the completion of the visitor center.
Zerzevan Castle is located on the Diyarbakır-Mardin highway in Çınar district. The 3,000-year-old Zerzevan Castle, which is the border garrison of Rome, dates back to the Assyrian Period (882-611 BC). The main military settlement was built in the 3rd century AD in the Severan Period (198-235 AD) in the Roman Period, and it was used uninterruptedly until the conquest of the Islamic armies in 639. The studies that have just begun have had great repercussions in the national and international arena, and it has now become a ruined place visited by local and foreign tourists. The last Mithras Temple ever found in the world's best preserved military settlement has been unearthed. This structure is the first temple on the eastern border of Rome.

There are architectural remains such as a 21-meter-high watch and defense tower (south tower), church, administration building, arsenal, and a rock altar in the southern area where public buildings are located in the military settlement, surrounded by walls with a length of 1,200 meters and a height of 12-15 meters. In the north, avenues, streets and residences can be followed. At the same time, water cisterns, underground church, underground shelter, the last Mithras Temple found in the world and the first Mithras Temple on the eastern border of Rome were identified in the area where the residences are located. Outside the walls, channels providing water to the settlement, offering bowls and stone quarries, rock tombs and vaulted tombs in the necropolis area attract attention. Zerzevan Castle has both an above ground and a large underground city.

Head of the Zerzevan Castle Excavation Team, Associate Professor Aytaç Coşkun, told the UAV reporter that the castle is the best preserved garrison in the world.
Stating that the structures and artifacts unearthed with the start of the excavations in 2014 attracted the attention of the world, Associate Professor Coşkun said, “The discovery of the Mithras site in 2017, other structures unearthed, underground and aboveground structures suddenly attracted all the attention to Zerzevan Castle. This year, we reached 100 thousand in terms of number of visitors. By the end of the year, 500 thousand people will come.”

“20-25 tour buses come a day”

Stating that a visitor center is currently being built, Coşkun said, "With the construction of the visitor center, at least 1 million people will be at Zerzevan Castle annually. There is a large number of visitors both at home and abroad. Zerzevan Castle is included in all tour programs of the region. There are also special programs. Sometimes 20-25 tour buses come a day. Tourists coming to Zerzevan affect the whole region's tourism.
One of the visitors, Devrim Kavak, noted that he is originally from Mardin and has lived in Ankara for 30 years. Stating that he came to visit here, Kavak said, “We saw this place on social media and television. The energy of this place is very beautiful, we were very impressed.”
Ramazan Dağ, one of the visitors, stated that they came for the first time and they liked it very much. He stated that they were surprised that its history is quite old.