Tomb of Yushi

Brief information

The most noticeable feature of Yuşa’s tomb is not the height of the hill, but the elongated shape of the grave itself: the earthen mound is about 17 meters long and about 2 meters wide. This unusual size is immediately connected with the way the place explains itself to visitors: on the outer wall there is a plaque in three languages with three versions of who is buried here.

In these versions, the same structure is read in different ways. The tombstone is associated with Joshua, with Yuşa ibn Nun, the successor of Musa, or with one of the local giants. Therefore, the length of the grave here is not simply a strange proportion, but the main visible argument of the legend. The complex remains a place of pilgrimage for Turkish Sufis, and its arrangement is shaped precisely by this veneration.

What to notice first

It is worth comparing the three levels of protection around the sacred area. First there is a high stone wall with two doors and windows; inside it is a cast-iron grille; over the grille an iron mesh is stretched so that pilgrims do not touch the ground. In this way, the design of the tomb shows not only a boundary, but also the force of worship: access is organized as a circuit around it, not as an approach to the center.

Inside the enclosure, the earthen mound, dense grass, and several tall trees are important: the grave looks like a marked-off piece of land rather than an ordinary stone tombstone. At the ends lie two round cylindrical stones resembling millstones. One has a quadrangular hole and a crack; nearby a pole is fixed with a golden or gilded disk bearing an Arabic inscription. This group of details turns one end of the grave into the main sign of the place.