Three thousand years of memory of a village that has lived without interruption between four mountains, from the Iron Age to today. This archive was created to keep its stone, its songs and its people from being forgotten.
Ulukale is an old settlement in the Çemişgezek district of Tunceli, about 30 kilometres from the district centre. In this valley embraced by four mountain ranges, life reaches back — according to archaeological surveys — to the Iron Age. A rock-cut tomb from the Hellenistic and Roman periods stands as a silent witness to just how ancient the village is.
In the 16th century Ulukale was the centre of a nahiye (sub-district) within the Çemişgezek Sanjak; with its tomb, fountain, bath, mosque, church and adobe vernacular architecture it carries the trace of a many-layered culture. Though largely quiet today, the earthen roofs and wooden windows of its abandoned houses still stand, beautiful in a different way each season.
This site aims to bring together the memory of a scattered village: old photographs, told stories, household and family memories, and the documentation of buildings on the verge of disappearing. If you have a stone, a photograph or a memory from the village — this is its place too.
Read the village's story through different windows.
A timeline of three thousand uninterrupted years — from the Iron Age to the Ottomans, and from the Ottomans to today.
Documenting the mosque, tomb, fountain, bath, church, water mill and stone mansions.
Images of the village from past to present. Frames from old albums gathered here.
Stories, nicknames, customs and lived experiences as told by the villagers.
An endemic, seedless, geographically-indicated mulberry. The village's main livelihood, exported worldwide.
Let's grow the archive together. Share your photos, documents and memories with us.
"The old village settlement looks so natural and beautiful in every season. Those who left the village sometimes return and wander among their old houses and schools, remembering days gone by."— Note from a photographer who visited Ulukale
This archive is dedicated to the cherished memory of my grandfather Ziya Gençer, who never forgot his village or his roots.
A photograph kept in a chest, a story from a grandfather, an old deed... all of it can become part of this archive. Let's preserve Ulukale's memory together.
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