The McGhee Center is located in the city of Alanya
on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Today Alanya
is known primarily for its well-preserved medieval castle and idyllic
beaches, its nightlife and its fragrant citrus groves. Yet it is
also a place with a rich history – an ideal setting for the study of
Turkish and Mediterranean civilization, culture and language.
Alanya and its surroundings
bear the traces of many eastern Mediterranean civilizations –
Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, Crusader, Ottoman, and more.
From the time of Alexander the Great, the port of Alanya
was a crucial link in Mediterranean commerce with Egypt, Cyprus, Greece,
Italy, Lebanon, and the Holy Land. Today this long and diverse
history intersects with the contemporary landscape of international
tourism and with Turkey’s increasing role in the global economy. Alanya’s beaches, ruins, and summer nightlife draw
visitors from Western Europe, Britain, Israel, and the former Soviet
Union. Its present-day landscape reveals mosques alongside internet
cafes, medieval pleasure gardens and Roman ruins amidst orchards
cultivated for global markets, and modern shopping malls near the castles
and caravanserais of the ancient Silk Road.
The curriculum at the McGhee Center emphasizes the
encounters between East and West, past and present that define this
complex and beautiful landscape, offering an unparalleled opportunity to
experience firsthand the rich tapestry of civilizations and cultures in
the eastern Mediterranean.
