Ahlat, on the western shore of Lake Van, contains one of the most remarkable concentrations of medieval Seljuk funerary architecture anywhere in Anatolia — thousands of carved tombstones dating primarily from the 11th through 13th centuries, many bearing intricate geometric and vegetal reliefs that have survived largely intact. UNESCO added the Ahlat Seljuk Cemetery to its World Heritage Tentative List in 2014, a designation that directly prompted Turkey's ongoing commemorative coin program highlighting underrepresented cultural sites.
Ahlat, on the western shore of Lake Van, contains one of the most remarkable concentrations of medieval Seljuk funerary architecture anywhere in Anatolia — thousands of carved tombstones dating primarily from the 11th through 13th centuries, many bearing intricate geometric and vegetal reliefs that have survived largely intact. UNESCO added the Ahlat Seljuk Cemetery to its World Heritage Tentative List in 2014, a designation that directly prompted Turkey's ongoing commemorative coin program highlighting underrepresented cultural sites.