Eskisehir, whose name means old city, has been a place of settlement for thousands of years, yet it wears its history lightly. The modern city is young, energetic, and student-filled, but beneath the cafes and the tram lines lie the layers of a long story: ancient Phrygians, Ottoman caravans, railway builders, and the meerschaum carvers who gave the city its worldwide fame. This guide tells that story, from the first settlements to the university city of today.
The Ancient Foundations: Dorylaeum and the Phrygians
The story begins long before the city’s name existed. On the site of modern Eskisehir stood Dorylaeum, an ancient settlement whose remains lie at the mound of Sarhoyuk on the city’s edge. Excavations have revealed layers of habitation reaching back thousands of years.
The region’s most famous ancient people were the Phrygians, whose kingdom flourished here in the first millennium before the Common Era. The rock-carved monuments of the Phrygian Valley, scattered across the countryside around Eskisehir, are their most dramatic legacy.
The archaeological museum in the city holds the finds from these eras, from pottery and tools to jewelry and ornaments. Walking the mound of Dorylaeum today, with the modern city spreading below, is to stand where the story began.
The Roman and Byzantine Centuries
Under the Romans, the region around Eskisehir became part of the settled order of Anatolia. The roads that the Romans built crossed this landscape, and the settlements along them grew into towns that would survive for centuries.
In the Byzantine period, the area remained an important crossroads, caught between the empire’s heartland and its eastern frontiers. The centuries left their marks in the countryside, in the remains of settlements and the layers of later building.
Much of this era survives only in fragments, but the continuity matters: the site of Dorylaeum was inhabited across these centuries, and the deep history beneath the modern streets is one reason the city’s museum collection is richer than its size suggests.
The Ottoman Era: The City on the Trade Routes
The Ottoman centuries shaped the Eskisehir that visitors see today. The city sat on the great routes of Anatolia, serving travelers and caravans, and its markets, inns, and baths grew with the traffic.
The old town of Odunpazari, with its timber-framed houses, is the visible inheritance of this era. The restored quarter preserves the architecture of Ottoman daily life, and the Kursunlu Complex, with its mosque and associated buildings, survives as a monument of the period’s piety and civic generosity.
The city’s historic role as a place of passage continues to shape its character. Eskisehir has always been a city that people move through, and it has learned to welcome them with markets, baths, and hospitality.
The Railway Age and the Modern City
The nineteenth century changed Eskisehir forever. When the great railway lines of the empire were built across Anatolia, the city became a junction, and the workshops, depots, and workers’ quarters that grew around the tracks turned a market town into an industrial city.
The railway brought new people, new industries, and a new rhythm. The city’s position at the meeting of lines made it a logistics hub, and the railway-era buildings and districts still mark the urban fabric today.
The high-speed rail line of the present century continues that tradition. The YHT trains that now connect Eskisehir with Ankara and Istanbul are the latest chapter of a railway story that has defined the city for over a century.
The Crimean Tatar Settlers
In the nineteenth century, a wave of migration reshaped Eskisehir’s culture. Crimean Tatars, displaced from their homeland, settled in the region, and their descendants remain an important part of the city’s identity.
The most delicious evidence is on every menu. Cig borek, the fried crescent pastry that is Eskisehir’s signature dish, is a Tatar recipe, and the city’s embrace of it speaks to how deeply the community’s culture has woven into local life. The annual commemorations and the community organizations keep the heritage visible and proud.
The Tatar heritage is celebrated in the city’s culture and commemorated in its events and institutions. It is a reminder that Eskisehir’s identity has been built by waves of newcomers, each adding a layer to the city’s character.
Lületasi: The Craft that Named the City
No history of Eskisehir is complete without lületasi, the meerschaum that made the city famous. The soft white mineral, mined in the hills around Eskisehir, has been carved here for two centuries, and the craft became the city’s signature art.
The carvers turn the raw stone into pipes, figurines, and ornaments, and their workshops still operate in the old town. Meerschaum was once the material of the world’s finest pipe bowls, and the skill of Eskisehir’s carvers made the city the center of the trade.
The craft is more than a souvenir industry; it is the city’s oldest continuous art. The workshops, the museum displays, and the carvers themselves carry a tradition that has survived every change the city has seen. Watching a carver work, the stone taking shape under the blade, is to see a century of practice in a few minutes.
The Republic and the University City
The founding of the Turkish Republic opened a new chapter. The young republic invested in education and industry, and Eskisehir, with its railway connections and its dynamic population, grew into a modern provincial city.
The decisive change came with the universities. The establishment of higher education institutions turned Eskisehir into a student city, and the tens of thousands of students who came to study remade its economy, its streets, and its spirit.
The universities brought more than youth; they brought research, culture, and an open, progressive atmosphere. The city that had spent centuries serving travelers now serves learners, and the students have become its greatest resource. The campus buildings and the student districts are the newest layer of the old city’s story, and they are written in daily use.
The Buyukersen Era: Renewal and the Modern Museum
The modern look of Eskisehir owes much to a single remarkable figure. Yilmaz Buyukersen, a long-serving mayor, led a transformation that restored the old town, created the parks, and reshaped the city center into the liveable place it is today.
Buyukersen was also a sculptor of wax figures, and the museum that bears his name displays his lifelike creations. The museum is a monument to the man and to the era of renewal he led, when Eskisehir turned its heritage into an asset rather than an obstacle.
The Odunpazari Modern Museum, built in the heart of the restored quarter, is the era’s architectural signature. The timber-clad galleries that echo the old houses stand as a statement of what the city made of its renewal.
Culture Today: Students, Festivals, and Everyday Life
The culture of contemporary Eskisehir is built on its students. The cafes, the bookshops, the music venues, and the nightlife all run on their energy, and the city’s famous open, tolerant atmosphere is a student inheritance.
The cultural calendar carries the year: exhibitions at the modern museum, concerts and theater from the universities, and festivals that draw on the city’s traditions and its youth. The events are frequent, accessible, and cheap, which keeps the culture democratic and the rooms full. For the visitor, checking the listings for the week is the fastest way into the city’s present-day life.
Everyday culture is the visible one: the tea gardens, the backgammon boards, the riverside promenades, and the sweets shared over conversation. The city’s real museum is its street life, and it is open every day.
The Role of the River
The Porsuk River has been the city’s constant companion through every era. It watered the fields of the ancient settlements, powered the mills of the Ottoman centuries, and served the railway town’s growing needs.
The modern chapter gives the river a new role. The banks have become the city’s social heart, with the promenades, the parks, and the gondolas that give Eskisehir its Venice of Anatolia nickname. The river that once worked for the city now entertains it.
The continuity is the point. The same water that ran past Dorylaeum flows past the modern museum, and the city’s identity has always turned toward its river. Understanding the Porsuk is understanding Eskisehir.
Food and Traditions as Culture
The city’s culture is also on its tables. The cig borek of the Tatar tradition, the met helvasi of the sweet shops, and the lokanta cooking of the daily kitchens are all expressions of the city’s history, eaten fresh every day.
The traditions survive in the details: the tea rituals, the market days, the festival foods, and the hospitality that treats strangers as guests. These are the practices that hold the city’s communities together.
For the traveler, the culture is easier to taste than to read about, and the city makes the reading optional. Eat the cig borek, buy the halva, drink the tea, and you will be participating in the living traditions of a city that has been welcoming travelers for centuries.
Frequently asked questions
What does the name Eskisehir mean?
Eskisehir means old city in Turkish. The name distinguishes it from the newer settlements that grew alongside it, and it reflects the city’s deep history, which reaches back to the ancient settlement of Dorylaeum.
What is Eskisehir known for historically?
The city is known for its ancient origins as Dorylaeum, its role as an Ottoman-era trade and railway hub, and its meerschaum carving tradition. Its modern fame rests on the universities that made it one of Turkey’s liveliest student cities.
Who was Yilmaz Buyukersen?
He was a long-serving mayor of Eskisehir who led the city’s modern renewal, restoring the old town and creating its parks. He was also a sculptor of wax figures, and the museum bearing his name displays his lifelike creations.
All Over Information
The All Over Information editorial team researches and writes practical English-language guides to Turkey. Facts are checked against official and local sources before publication, prices are published as dated ranges rather than quotes, and guides are revised when things change. We accept no sponsored posts, paid placements or paid links.
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