Mudurnu

History

The town has a long history and the name Mudurnu comes from the Byzantine princess Modrene (Μωδρηνή in Byzantine Greek), and the ruins of the Byzantine castle can still be seen above the town. In the 8th century AD, the forces of the Byzantine usurper Artabasdos, commanded by his son Niketas, were defeated at or near this location by the army of the legitimate emperor Constantine V, before being defeated again at Chrysopolis, the same location where Constantine the Great defeated his Eastern rival Licinius.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Mudurnu was part of the Kastamonu Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.

This is an attractive district of forest and mountain. Mudurnu itself is a historical town with a number of well-preserved Ottoman Empire period houses. A portion of the centre of town has been declared an Historic Preservation District ("Kentsel Sit Alanı").

In 1920, during the Nationalists' push to gain control over the country, İbrahim Çolak with the Kuva-yi Milliye besieged forces loyal to the Porte for three days, May 13 to 15, before taking the town.

Economy

Until 2002 when it went bankrupt, the local economy was heavily dependent on the "Mudurnu Chicken" (Mudurnu Tavuk) company, one of Turkey's largest poultry producers and fast-food chains. There is a large statute of a chicken at the edge of town. After the chicken processing plant closed in 2002, significant numbers of people left the town for jobs elsewhere and the remaining populous began to invest in tidying up and restoring the old town in order to attract tourists and weekend visitors. Many of the old houses are now restaurants serving local cuisine.

In 2007 as part of the dissolution of Mudurnu Chicken the brand name was sold to Pak Chicken (Pak Tavuk), who produced chicken under that brand name, but not in Mudurnu. Beginning in 2010 Pak Chicken opened a chicken packing plant in Mudurnu, employing 350 people by mid 2010.

Places of interest