Kirsehir

Kirsehir, formerly Mocissus and Justinianopolis is a city in Turkey. It is the capital district of the Kirsehir Province. According to the 2000 census, the population of the district is 121,947 of which 105,826 live in the city of Kirsehir.

It may have been Justinianopolis (Mocissus), which, under the 6th-century Byzantine emperor Justinian I, was a major town in the ancient district of Cappadocia. From the 14th to the 18th century, Kirsehir was the stronghold of the influential Ahi brotherhood, a religious fraternity developed by the 14th-century leader Ahi Avran out of a medieval craftsmen’s guild. The Cacabey Cami, a 12th-century Seljuq observatory converted into a mosque, the Alaeddin Cami (13th century), and the mausoleum of the poet Asik Paşa are all standing. Kirsehir is linked by road with Ankara (90 miles [145 km] northwest) and Nevsehir (46 miles [74 km] southeast).