Tourism

Our district is 45 km away from Gaziantep city center. The history of the district, which joined the Ottoman Empire in 1517, dates back to BC. It goes back to 3000 years ago. Belkıs Zeugma ancient city, which is important for Türkiye's world archeology history and whose excavations are followed with great excitement, is located 10 km north of Nizip. The freshwater fish and blue waters of Birecik Dam Lake cover the shores of the ancient city. In addition, the Byzantine Nizip Fevkani Church located in the center has attracted the attention of visitors. Karpuzatan picnic area, located on the banks of the Nizip stream, offers ideal places for those who want to meet nature and breathe.

RUMKALE
62 km from Gaziantep center. It is on steep rocks in the northeast, where the Merzimen Stream flows into the Euphrates River. The name of Rumkale was previously Hromgla, but it was changed to Rumkale. It is entered through a door entrance consisting of an external wall and complex rooms, on the slopes rising steeply from the banks of the Euphrates and Merzimen. The standing architectural ruins are of Late Roman and Medieval character. The most interesting of these is the large, cylindrical ventilation well and the well that goes down from the edge of this well in a spiral path and goes down to the level of the Euphrates. Hz. This is where Yohannes, one of Jesus' apostles, retreated for a while and copied and kept the drafts of the Yohannes (yohenna) Bible.
It is said that the copies found later were taken to Beirut. It is known that Hromgla was an important center during the Crusader County of Urfa in the 11th century. Kale-kent was taken over by the Mamluks at the end of the 12th century and was initially named Kal-at ar Rum and later named Kalat El Müslimin. After the Battle of Mercidadik, Rumkale was taken over by the Ottomans and became a district of the Birecik sanjak of the Aleppo province. In Rumkale, there are still some buildings from the medieval and Turkish-Islamic periods and a mosque in ruins. Richart Pococke, who visited Rumkale in the 18th century, mentions that there are several magnificent buildings on the hill and a small but very beautiful church in Gothic style. There are many rock-cut places in the Euphrates valley between Samsat and Rumkale. Many of these were combined with passages and turned into defensive places to protect the Euphrates tribes, especially during the Crusades. There is a church and tomb built in the name of St. Nernes, the last patriarch who is known as a saint by Christians. With the completion of the water retention operations in Birecik Dam, Rumkale has become a complete peninsula.

FEVKANI CHURCH
Today, the 542nd island, 3rd parcel, located in the Fevkani neighborhood, is registered as a cultural asset on behalf of the General Directorate of Foundations, with an area of ​​476 m. Although the exact date of construction of the building with the area is not known, it dates back to B.C. It is rumored that it was built in 350-450. It is known that the church was a mosque in the 1800s. Currently not used.

MOUNDS
Nizip Belkis Mounds
The Nizip mound in the south of Nizip and the mounds in Belkıs are generally the first settlements. When you look south from the Belkıs mound, you can see both the current hill district of Nizip and the Nizip mound. Therefore, it is known that the hills in question were protected and developed by the people who formed the first settlements for special purposes such as monitoring the events in that region, communicating by lighting a fire, and signaling in case of danger. According to a common legend among the people in Nizip, the barrow lying under the Belkıs mound gets up once every century and asks, "Has the iron rod of Belkıs turned into gold?" he shouted. "It didn't happen!" He heard a voice, this time he said "It will happen, it will happen" and lay down again.
Horum Höyük
Starting in 1996, rescue excavations continued with the Horum mound, known as the Çardak village of the people of Nizip and one of the mounds that is under the waters of the Birecik Dam, under the direction of Cathrine Marro and Aksel Tibet at the French Anatolian Research Institute in Istanbul, under the chairmanship of the Gaziantep Museum Directorate in Istanbul. Unfortunately, geomorphological investigations carried out in the Mound and its immediate surroundings reveal that the architectural remains of this settlement, which corresponds to the Amik DF phases, are most likely mounds built to determine the Euphrates waters, to convey some messages to the next generations or to hide treasures.