Helvadere is a town (''

belde Belde (literally "town", also known as ''kasaba'') means "large village with a municipality" in Turkish language, Turkish. All Turkish province centers and district centers have municipalities, but the Villages of Turkey, villages are usually too ...

'') and municipality in the

Aksaray District Aksaray District (also: ''Merkez'', meaning "central") is a district of Aksaray Province of Turkey. Its seat is the city Aksaray.Aksaray Province Aksaray Province () is a province in central Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Konya along the west and south, Ankara to the northwest, Niğde to the southeast, Nevşehir to the east, and Kırşehir to the north. Its area is 7,659 km2, an ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its population is 2,564 (2021).

Geography

Helvadere is on the western slopes of

Mount Hasan Mount Hasan () is a volcano in Anatolia, Turkey. It has two summits, the high eastern Small Hasan Dagi and the high Big Hasan Dagi, and rises about above the surrounding terrain. It consists of various volcanic deposits, including several cald ...

at about . It is south of

Aksaray Aksaray () is a city in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. It is the seat of Aksaray Province and Aksaray District.

History

Helvadere is situated next to ruins of the ancient town Nora, which was an important town in

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

Capadocia Cappadocia (; , from ) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir provi ...

. Helvadere was also named

Mokissos Mokissos or Mokisos () or Mokison (Μωκισόν) was a town of ancient Cappadocia. The Romans called the city Mocisus or Mocissus, and Mocisum, and after the city was rebuilt by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (527-565), it was renamed Justinia ...

and Justinianopolis (named after

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

) in antiquity. Eventually, the town lost its former importance and in the Middle Ages it was a small village named Hardaldere.

Evliya Çelebi Dervish Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi (), was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman explorer who travelled through his home country during its cultural zenith as well as neighboring lands. He travelled for over 40 years, rec ...

in his Seyahatname describes hardaldere as a village of 65 houses; the majority of the population being Turk, but also with a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

minority. In the early 20th century, the name was Halvadara. But in 1968 Halvadara was declared a town named Helvadere.

Economy

Helvadere is a typical agricultural town. Potato, apple and cherry are among the more important crops. Some members of the town work in western Europe as industrial workers (''gastarbeiter'') and they also contribute to the town's economy.

Churches

* Kemerli Kilise, "Arched church", formerly known as the Church of the

Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

or Church of

St. George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

* Yardıbaş Kilise * Süt Kilise, “Milk church" * Bozboyun Kilise, "Gray neck church". * Çukurkent Kilisesi, "Pit city church" * Tepe Kilisesi, "Hill church" * Sarıgöl Kilisesi, "Yellow lake church" * Kale Kilisesi, "Castle Church" * Kara Kilise "Dark Church" The ruins of Karahan (Eshab-ı Kefh Han) from the Seljuks period is also located in

References

Populated places in Aksaray District Town municipalities in Turkey {{Aksaray-geo-stub