Hevsel Gardens consists of seven hundred hectares of fertile cultivated land near the Tigris River in eastern Turkey between Diyarbakir Castle and the river. The fortified city was surrounded by a two-part system of defensive walls, and gardens - fed by springs on the steep slope below - played a vital role in keeping the city secured and irrigated. The gardens were added to the UNESCO Tentative List in 2013 and became a World Heritage Site in 2015, along with the walls of the Diyarbakir Citadel.