Cumalıkızık lies on the lower slopes of Uludağ, east of Bursa, where narrow stone-paved lanes pass beneath the projecting upper floors of old houses. The setting can look like a ready-made image of Ottoman village life. Its real interest is more specific: this settlement helps explain how an early imperial capital was supported by the countryside around it. The houses belong to a history of work, family privacy and institutions, as well as to an attractive streetscape.
In 2014, Cumalıkızık joined UNESCO’s World Heritage List as part of Bursa and Cumalıkızık: the Birth of the Ottoman Empire. The serial property has eight components, linking the village with Bursa’s commercial and religious foundations. It is a relationship between urban and rural places, rather than a declaration that an isolated village contains the entire story. A visit becomes richer when the lanes are read alongside the development of nearby Bursa.
