The hundredth anniversary of the name "Uludağ." From ancient Olympos to Keşiş Dağı, from the Republic's renaming to Uludağ's first private enterprise — the century-old story of a mountain.
With the “Alpine Orogeny,” the Uludağ massif begins to rise. The mountain's core is a granitic intrusion — formed as magma solidified at depth without ever reaching the surface. The 2,543 m summit is the product of that movement.
The Hittite era. The name “Olympos” is thought to be of Luwian origin rather than Greek (“The Ever-Shining”). In Greek mythology, the home of the gods.
The historian Herodotus (484–425 BC) records the mountain as “Olympos” in his work. The tragedy of Atys, son of the Lydian king Croesus, unfolds here.
The geographer Strabo refers to the mountain as “Mysian Olympos” — the sacred mountain on the border between Bithynia and Mysia.
With the Edict of Milan, Emperor Constantine grants Christianity freedom of worship. (Its proclamation as the official religion would come with the Edict of Thessalonica in 380.) Monasteries begin to be founded across Anatolia.
Groups fleeing the persecution of Christians settle in Uludağ's caves and withdraw into seclusion.
The first known monasteries on Uludağ are built. The transition from caves to stone structures begins.
The age of iconoclasm unfolds in two periods (726–787 and 814–842). Monks expelled from the heart of Byzantium take refuge in the forests of Mysian Olympos. It ends with the “Triumph of Orthodoxy” in 843.
Monastic life on Uludağ enters its golden age. Great monastic centers such as Sakkoudion, Symbola and Atroa spread across the mountain; Theodore the Studite's path passes through here. In the southern forests of Bursa, monastic cells, libraries and workshops follow one upon another.
According to traditional sources, 147 monasteries stood on the mountain by the time the Turks reached the region — the densest monastic population in Anatolia. (Osman Şevki Uludağ's 1936 study documents ~28 of them in detail.)
The monasteries empty out. Muslim dervishes such as Geyikli Baba, Abdal Murad and Duğlu Baba settle in the monks' caves and establish dervish lodges. As Christian monastic life withdraws from the mountain, the Anatolian saints take its place.
In the Ottoman period, in reference to the mountain's monastic past, it comes to be called “Keşiş Dağı” (Monk's Mountain). The name would remain in official use until 1925.
Despite Turkish rule, the presence of Christian monks on the mountain endures until the 15th century. A thousand years of monastic life draw their final breath in this century.
As Ottoman order falters, the mountain turns into a dangerous place. Highway-robbing bands create the image of an untameable Keşiş Dağı.
Summer 1925. Led by Hakkı Baha (Pars) Bey, director of the Bursa Teachers' College, a 10-day study expedition is undertaken with students and teachers from the Bursa and Istanbul Teachers' Colleges, the School of Political Sciences and Bursa High School. Dr. Osman Şevki Bey, a topographer of the Cartography Directorate, is also in the group. Following the expedition, the change of name becomes official on 24 September 1925.
The first hotel on the mountain is built: the 15-room Uludağ Hotel (architect Kemal Arû). It is later expanded during the tenure of Governor Fatin Güvendiren.
Abraham, an athletics coach brought to Türkiye for the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, takes photographs on Uludağ and discusses with Bursa Governor Fatin Güvendiren the region's potential as a ski resort.
A group of teachers from Galatasaray High School makes the first collective ski descent on Uludağ. (The first known individual descent: 1924, Dr. Şaban Örnektekin.)
A visit in April 1933 by Bülent Üstündağ, nephew of Istanbul Governor Muhittin Üstündağ, with a group of 30 proves to be the catalyst. A 10-member founding committee establishes the Bursa Mountaineering Club.
Selahattin Daci, a teacher at the Boys' Art Institute, carries out Türkiye's first domestic ski production at the school — modeled on European examples, with bamboo poles.
When the Surname Law is enacted, Dr. Osman Şevki Bey takes the surname “Uludağ.” The man who gave the mountain its name now takes his name from the mountain.
With contributions from the provincial CHP organization, the 110-bed Kayakevi (Ski House) opens at Cennetkaya — a first for Türkiye. Its capacity soon grows to 200 beds.
From the Erden family memoirs — “Uludağ Günleri” (Uludağ Days), 2013: In 1943 the Kayakevi runs at full capacity — bunk beds, a great stove in the middle, mess-style meals, a doorway reached down a staircase of snow. Lodging: 6 TL at the Kayakevi (4 TL for groups), 12.50 TL at the hotel.
The Mountaineering and Equestrian Federation is founded; ahead of the 1936 Winter Olympics it is renamed the “Mountaineering and Winter Sports Federation.” The institutional starting point of skiing in Türkiye is centered on Uludağ.
Osman Şevki Uludağ publishes his 76-page book documenting the mountain's monastic past — the first comprehensive Turkish inventory of 1,500 years of monastic life, examining ~28 monasteries in detail.
The Büyük Otel (Grand Hotel) is built by the Provincial Special Administration, serving skiers as a priority — the mountain's first institutional accommodation move, building on the hotel of 1931.
The first ski competitions are held on Uludağ — the opening scene of ski racing in Türkiye.
Mehmet Beceren and his wife Fatma Beceren establish Uludağ's first private enterprise: Beceren Baraka — a canteen, day-visitor services and a Bursa–Uludağ bus connection. After the state facilities, it is the mountain's first private tourism venture.
From the Erden family memoirs: “Mehmet did all the work and everything that was needed single-handedly.” With the subsequent arrival of the Yazıcı and Alkoçlar families, the first steps toward the diversity of modern tourism on Uludağ are taken.
Established by a Council of Ministers decree of 29 May 1947, the Uludağ Tuberculosis Sanatorium admits its first patients on 20 June 1949 (architects: Emin Onat, Leman Cevat Tomsu). The mountain's clean air becomes a place of healing.
The Beceren family's second move: Odun Palas (the Small Hotel). From the Erden family memoirs: “That is when I came to know Fatma Hanım — in those hard days when she would even go into the kitchen and bake the bread herself.”
From the Erden family memoirs: A handmade, rudimentary first ski tow in front of Odun Palas / the old Büyük Beceren: “We would hold on and climb a short stretch... but it was a great step for what was to come.”
20 September 1961. By ministerial approval, Uludağ is declared a National Park. Initially 11,338 hectares; expanded to 12,762 hectares in 1996. It is among Türkiye's first mountain national parks.
Türkiye's first cable car is built by the Swiss firm Von Roll. Construction begins in 1958; the 4.5 km line opens on 29 October 1963 — the 40th anniversary of the Republic. The line: Teferrüç → Kadıyayla → Sarıalan. A climb that once took five hours on foot is reduced to a few minutes.
Mehmet Beceren installs Türkiye's first modern, Swiss-built ski tow on the Beceren slope (renewed in 1978). In the same period Beceren also launches an equipment rental service — one of Türkiye's first ski rental rooms.
On 21 July 1966 the independent Turkish Ski Federation is founded (first president: Latif Osman Çıkıgil). The sport that took root on Uludağ gains a roof of its own.
The Balkan Ski Championship is held on Uludağ; Rıdvan Özbek becomes Balkan champion in the Nordic junior discipline.
Türkiye's largest tungsten deposit lies on Uludağ: MTA surveys in 1950, an Etibank operating decision in 1968, production from ~1978. Production is halted on 28 March 1989.
The National Parks Law No. 2873 is enacted on 9 August 1983 (Official Gazette: 11.08.1983 / 18132); Uludağ's protected status is strengthened. The national park's boundaries are now secured by legislation.
The traditional Kardanadam (Snowman) Ski Races begin.
A website and mobile apps are launched under the Uludaginfo brand by Burak Beceren, the first third-generation operator in the ski sector on Uludağ and in Türkiye. It is the digital dimension, 67 years later, of the tourism service his grandfather Mehmet Beceren began in 1946.
The historic Teferrüç line of 1963 is rebuilt from the ground up; the new line opens on 7 June 2014. Modern stations, 8-person cabins, and the Teferrüç → Kadıyayla → Sarıalan → Hotels District (Gümüşler) extension (completed in 2015). The full line runs ~8.8 km — among the world's longest monocable gondola lines. Uninterrupted access from Bursa to the Uludağ Hotels District becomes possible for the first time.
Premium services such as VIP cabins (Dağ Bülbülü, Dağ Gelinciği, Bozayı, Apollo Kelebeği, Gökdoğan, Kaya Kartalı — names drawn from Uludağ's endemic wildlife), Sky Dining and Fast Track are also introduced.
26 January 2023 — under Law No. 7432 and Presidential Decree No. 117, the Uludağ Area Directorate is established within the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The 60+ year National Park model gives way to unified, holistic area management.
27 September 2025. On the 100th anniversary of the naming of “Uludağ,” the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality opens the “Uludağ Turns 100” exhibition at the Bursa City Museum. Alongside it, the children's book “Dağın Kızı” (Daughter of the Mountain) and the biography “Dr. Osman Şevki Uludağ” are presented — books prepared by Osman Şevki Uludağ's great-grandchildren Sinem Çelebioğlu and Irem Ela Yıldızeli.
More than a century of experience is shaping the Uludağ of the future.