‘We have registered our 20th asset to the UNESCO World Heritage List,’ says Turkish culture minister. Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nouri announced on Monday that the ancient city of Gordion, the capital of the Phrygian civilization, located in Turkey, has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The decision was taken at the 45th UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting held in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh. Gordion is one of the most important historical centers in the ancient Near East, according to UNESCO’s website. The ancient site lies around 90 kilometers (56 miles) southwest of Ankara at the intersection of the great empires to the east such as Assyrians, Babylonians, Hittites and the west Greeks and Romans.
The site “occupied a strategic position on nearly all trade routes that linked the Aegean and Mediterranean with the Near East,” it added. “Gordion’s historical significance derives from its very long and complex sequence of occupation that spans nearly 4,500 years, from the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2,500 B.C.) to the Medieval period (ca. 1400 A.D.) and thereafter to the present day,” the website said.