After lunch, we toured the cultural places in Torbalı. These are the Metropolis ruins, the city museum, and the Hippodrome Cafe.
Hippodrome Cafe
The structure, which is a work of the late Ottoman period, was built in 1899 to watch horse races. Today it is operated as a tea garden.City Museum
The building was built in 1988 as a granary. It was used for the storage of grain products grown in the environment. It has been used as Torbalı Military Building for years. Later, the heavily damaged structure was restored. Today, it has turned into a city museum reflecting the cultural characteristics of Torbalı. Within the scope of the City Museum, both objective and intangible cultural heritage data were constructed together. Starting with the story of the city of Metropolis, which is the important archaeological site of the region, cultural life in the district, urban development, sections from the life of the people of Torbalı are given with both past and future fiction. The museum has special interaction areas for visitors, and special archeology play and reading areas for children.Metropolis
Metropolis was founded by the men of Lyzimachos during the Selluokos Kingdom in the 3rd century BC. Metropolis means the city of the Mother Goddess. The statue of the mother goddess (locally known as Metagallesia), who gave the city its name, was found during excavations in Uyuzdere. In the Hellenistic period (1-2nd century BC), the metropolis developed, the city was surrounded by magnificent walls, a temple was built in the name of Ares, the god of war, and monumental public buildings such as stoa and theater were built. Metropolis, known to be an important art center in the Hellenistic period, produced very high quality and original sculptures. During the Roman Imperial period, the city developed down the slopes. The Atrium, the Roman House, the temples of Zeus and the Twelve Gods belong to this period. The city, which was the center of the city bishopric in the Byzantine period, started to shrink due to wars, the walls were narrowed and the city was bordered by a castle, stoa and acropolis.
