Tillo · Siirt

The Light of Tillo

On two mornings a year, for a few minutes at sunrise,
sunlight reaches the head of a teacher’s grave.

Scroll down for the story

The teacher

İsmail Fakirullah

1657 — 1734

Born in Tillo, he devoted his life to learning and spiritual teaching.

The student

1703 — 1780

He studied under him as a boy in Tillo, turned to astronomy and wrote the Mârifetnâme.

What use is a sun to me that does not rise upon my teacher’s grave?
Erzurumlu İbrahim Hakkı

The sky

Its rising point shifts with the seasons: towards the north-east in summer, the south-east in winter.

At the March and September equinoxes it rises almost due east.

İbrahim Hakkı aligned his design to that direction. That is why the light comes only on certain mornings.

EastOn a hill east of Tillo stand the remains of a dry-stone wall: Kal’at-ül Üstad, known as the Hill of Contemplation.
The wall is about six metres wide and three metres high, with a 40 × 50 cm opening in its middle.
On equinox mornings the sun rises behind this hill, almost due east.
Tradition says the first light passes through this opening and on to the tower.
As the sun rises, the hill’s shadow falls over Tillo. The tomb lies three kilometres west as the crow flies.
A 2011 study found the wall is not needed for the light; it may have been built to mark the sun’s position.
The towerWhat actually turns the light is a mirror in the octagonal tower beside the tomb.
The tombThe mirror reflects the light into the tomb’s window, and it reaches the head of the grave.
Wall, tower, mirror and window make sense only together, with the sun’s yearly path.

Inside, the tomb is still dark.

The light first appears on the lower left of the Tac-ı Şerif, the carved wooden headpiece.

The brightness widens and covers the head of the grave.

Soon it slides towards the upper right and fades away.

It all lasts five or six minutes.

A ray of sunlight whose direction was calculated,
and the story of devotion
that gives it meaning.

For visitors

The next light

—

When: Traditionally on the mornings of 21 March and 23 September, at sunrise. The time varies by year; in 2026 the light began around 06:20. Check the official programme.
How long: Five or six minutes, depending on weather and viewing conditions. On cloudy or rainy mornings the light may not be visible.
Where: The Tomb of İsmail Fakirullah in Tillo, Siirt, Türkiye. Kal’at-ül Üstad stands on a hill about 3 km to the east as the crow flies.
How to watch: The tomb is small, so the event is shown live on a screen set up in the town square.

The mechanism: The light is directed by a mirror in the octagonal tower, about 10 m tall, beside the tomb. It is reflection, not refraction. The exact purpose of the wall on the hill is unknown; it may have served observation or marking.
The tomb: The teacher’s cenotaph is carved wood, with a carved wooden headpiece, the Tac-ı Şerif, at its head. İbrahim Hakkı himself was buried in his teacher’s tomb in 1780.
History: When the tomb was restored in the 1960s its orientation and window changed, and for about fifty years the light no longer reached the grave. In 2011 scientists from TÜBİTAK and several universities took measurements; a new window was opened and the mirror adjusted. On 23 September 2011 the light reached the grave again.
Heritage: The Tomb of İsmail Fakirullah and its Light Mechanism were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List in 2015. This does not mean it is on the permanent list.