Country University Celal Bayar University Area 1,231.83 km2 | Mayor Cengiz Ergün (MHP) Population 356,702 (2012) | |
Manisa ( from Greek: , Magnesia) is a large city in Turkeys Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province.
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Map of Manisa
Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port city and the regional metropolitan center of ?zmir and by its fertile hinterland rich in quantity and variety of agricultural production. In fact, ?zmirs proximity also adds a particular dimension to all aspects of lifes pace in Manisa in the form of a dense traffic of daily commuters between the two cities, separated as they are by a half-hour drive served by a fine six-lane highway nevertheless requiring attention at all times due to its curves and the rapid ascent (sea-level to more than 500 meters at Sabuncubeli Pass) across Mount Sipyluss mythic scenery.
The historic part of Manisa spreads out from a forested valley in the immediate slopes of Sipylus mountainside, along Çayba?? Stream which flows next to Niobes "Weeping Rock" ("A?layan Kaya"), an ancient bridge called the "Red Bridge" ("K?rm?z? Köprü") as well as to several tombs-shrines in the Turkish style dating back to the Saruhan period (14th century). Under Ottoman rule in the centuries that followed, the city had already extended into the undulated terrain at the start of the plain. In the last couple of decades, Manisas width more than tripled in size across its vast plain formed by the alluvial deposits of the River Gediz, a development in which the construction of new block apartments, industrial zones and of Celal Bayar University campus played a key role.
The city of Manisa is also widely visited, especially during March and September festivals, the former festival being the continuation of a five hundred year old "Mesir Paste Distribution" tradition, and also for the nearby Mount Spil national park. It is also a departure point for other visitor attractions of international acclaim which are located nearby within Manisas depending region, such as Sardes and Ala?ehir (ancient Philadelphia) inland. There is a Jewish community.
History
Traces of prehistory in the Manisa region, although few in number, nevertheless include two very interesting finds that shed much light on western Anatolias past. The first are the fossilized footprints, numbering more than fifty and dated to around 20.000-25.000 BC, discovered in 1969 by MTA, Turkeys state body for mineral exploration, in Sindel village near Manisas depending district of Salihli and referred to under that villages name. Some of these footprints are on display today in Manisa Museum while their site of origin of Sindel, where there are also prehistoric paintings, will reportedly become Turkeys first geopark through a joint project with the European Commission.
The second finds are tombs contemporaneous with Troy II (3000-2500 BC) and found in the village of Yortan near K?rka?aç district center, north of Manisa. Original burial practices observed in these sepulchres led scholars to the definition of a "Yortan culture" in Anatolias prehistory, many of whose aspects remain yet to be explored.