Festival Bringing Living Ancient Cities Together

The International Kaleiçi Old Town Festival, organized by Antalya Muratpaşa Municipality, stands out as one of the most comprehensive international organizations organized by a local government.

Kaleiçi Old Town Festival, which has been held since 2016 on the basis of objectives such as preserving and developing the cultural and historical heritage, bringing together all living ancient cities, drawing a common road map for the solution of common problems, developing international cooperation opportunities, and introducing a unique heritage such as Kaleiçi to the world, has been held since 2016. Until now, it has hosted 110 ancient cities from 3 continents.



Organized with the theme of increasing awareness of living ancient cities, Kaleiçi Old Town Festival is the only international organization in Türkiye and one of the few in the world in the field of preserving cultural and historical heritage.

Increasing interest in the festival over the years; The fact that the festival has risen to both a cultural and academic point, that it has reached a content where declarations are signed, a common publication organ is created, and forums are organized are the elements that make the Kaleiçi Old Town Festival unique and show that it has achieved its purpose.

Thanks to the festival, awareness has been created on a local, national and international scale regarding the historical, cultural, artistic and sociological heritage of living historical cities and the place of this heritage in modern urban life.



Representatives of historical cities living from many parts of the world, mainly included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List, participated in the Kaleiçi Old Town Festival and shared their knowledge and experiences on solutions to the common problems of living historical cities. A dialogue environment has been provided for international cooperation and project partnership in order to transfer the cultural and historical heritage of living historical cities to future generations.

Kaleiçi Old Town Festival, which has been held since 2016, has made a great contribution to the promotion of Kaleiçi, located in the heart of Antalya, and making it an important cultural tourism destination. There are many hotels, pensions and hostels in the Kaleiçi area. This unique region, where history and modern life are intertwined, has become an important place for cultural tourism, especially for the European market, thanks to the Kaleiçi Old Town Festival.



As the festival coincided with the end of the tourism season on the date it was held, it contributed to continuing the seasonal activity to some extent, and tour sales operators increased the attractiveness of the city by presenting the festival as the most important free public event held in the city during this period to visitors who want to visit the city during this period.



The biggest aim of the festival was to build a permanent bridge of humanity, tourism and culture with cities with living ancient cities, to find a common ground and to make this sustainable. Kaleiçi Old Town Festival has become an event where this claim and desire has now started to become reality.