NO PLACE TO VISIT
NO PLACE TO VISIT
A GUIDE TO THE UNSEEN AND UNVISITABLE
Using this guide, you are invited to explore what remains unseen in Bursa’s Hisar District — to witness the stories of places you cannot visit or see.
HÄ°SAR ARKEOPARK
https://goo.gl/maps/9rUk3KYGdF5QAYK28
You are currently standing in a protected archaeological zone designated by the Osmangazi Municipality in 2014 as part of the Hisar Arkeopark Project. Excavations in this area uncovered various remains, primarily from the Roman and Byzantine periods. In response, the municipality decided to preserve the site and announced plans to create an open-air museum centered around a Roman-era mosaic.
On the journey you’re about to take, you will visit other places where similar remains have been found — places that, unlike this one, are not still visible today, yet never received such recognition. Instead of being preserved, many of these sites have been built over with houses. This guide invites you to notice them, to witness what has been overlooked, and to reflect on what makes something “museum-worthy.”
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As you move through the journey, you can follow the map links and use photographs of the sites to make sure you’re in the right place.
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You’ll notice on your way to the first stop, each location on your path is connected by threads. With every step you take, you can follow these threads — and if you find them broken or untied, you may choose to knot them back together. In doing so, you help keep visible those spaces that were never deemed worthy of inclusion in the museum.
ORUÇBEY STREET
NO:15
https://goo.gl/maps/nZzTpvkLu4RvxcJWA​
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Your first stop will be on your left as you walk down Oruçbey Street, facing away from the Kaleiçi Hotel. In stark contrast to the grandeur of the Oruçbey Tomb just across the street, this modest parking lot has remained unremarkable for years — yet it rests atop the invisible remnants of a historic bathhouse.
Used as a car park for decades, this site revealed a cistern and well-like structures after surrounding houses were demolished. These findings suggest that the space may date back to the early Ottoman or even Byzantine period. Still, no matter how closely you look, you won’t be able to see the traces of what once stood here.
YERKAPI LANE
NO:39
https://goo.gl/maps/2GhnuJLxVABi7bVi6
Entering from the right side of the Oruçbey Tomb, Sixth Kale Lane will lead you to a three-way junction. If you turn right onto Yerkapı Lane, beyond door number 39, you will encounter the unseen presence of the Atana Spring. Though you cannot visit it directly, you can bear witness to its flow in absence.
During the Byzantine period, this water gathered in a pool located 40 steps below ground level, supplying water to the surrounding area.
6th KALE LANE
NO:7
https://goo.gl/maps/az7LQ4pZA7BECC6t8
For the third stop on your route, return to Sixth Kale Lane and continue straight ahead. On your right, at the entrance to a parking lot, try to sense the presence of another Byzantine-era ruin uncovered after the demolition of the previous house.
This rectangular structure, built with baked bricks, is believed to have served as a brick tomb. Unfortunately, the house constructed over these remains means you won’t be able to visit the site itself. For now, say farewell to this unseen structure and begin examining the house directly opposite.
6th KALE LANE
NO:14
https://goo.gl/maps/9pKLtbLnrpvh2r5w7
Beneath the house you see as your next stop — number 14 — lies a structure that connects it to the other stops on your route. During the Byzantine period, short ceramic pipes measuring 30 to 40 centimeters functioned as water conduits here. These pipes, located under the house, are joined together with a mortar made of broken bricks, lime, and water.
Beneath the lane you are standing on, there is also a Byzantine sarcophagus, identifiable by its characteristic triangular lid and thin brick walls.
6th KALE LANE
NO:12
https://goo.gl/maps/B3iG5kvDU93WPZXw5
Continue your journey along Sixth Kale Lane, walking above these unseen relics. When you glance to your left toward the vacant lot, you won’t see the Pınarbaşı Spring — concealed beneath layers of discarded debris and tangled trees.
Once, Pınarbaşı served as an ancient refrigeration system, a cool sanctuary where waters that meandered like a hidden stream from house to house gathered and pooled. This buried spring quietly preserved life and memory, its presence now veiled but still pulsing beneath the surface.
6. KALE LANE
NO:8-10
https://goo.gl/maps/Td4JSxAdZPCesN127
Leaving the vacant lot behind, when you arrive beside the building next door, you have reached your final stop. Beneath the apartment you stand beside lies an ancient storage chamber, its limestone layers still radiating the pale whiteness of lime mortar — a silent witness to centuries long past.
This hidden space was uncovered during excavations, only to be carefully covered over once again after construction permits were issued. Buried beneath the foundations, it remains unseen, its presence concealed beneath the rhythms of daily life.
Now, standing here with this knowledge, you can complete your journey — carrying with you the stories of these invisible places, the traces of histories that live quietly beneath the surface, waiting to be remembered.
When you complete your journey, you can follow the threads back to where you began. If you notice any threads broken or frayed, you may choose to tie them back together — an act of reconnecting what has been severed.
As you do, you are invited to question why some places remain unseen, unlike others that have been brought into the light.
Now, you too can carry the stories behind these seemingly ordinary places in your mind, and share in the feelings of spaces that, though once uncovered, were ultimately left to fade back into invisibility.