When king Antiochus I ruled a small state in the upper Euphrates river, which was between the Parthian Kingdom and the Roman Empire. It seems that this king was a megalomaniac, he considered himself a direct descendant of Darius I and Alexander the great. Antiochus I ordered on top of mount Nemrut (altitude 2150 m) to build a temple and a tomb. Among the stone statues of heroes and gods, such as Apollo, Hercules, Zeus, etc. was installed and the statue of Antiochus. Since then, it took about 2000 years, which did not spare the ancient buildings and statues, however today this place is incredibly beautiful.

Due to the fact that the ruins of the Church of Antioch is located on the East and West side of the mountain, it is best to visit Nemrut early morning or evening. Mysterious burial mound with a height of 50 meters and a diameter of 150 m built of bricks and stones. The fence is designed in the form of ledges cut into the rock. On the Eastern side of the mountain there are statues, stone wall, and the altar, having a form of the step pyramid. The gallery connects the ledges on the East and West of the tomb, and the entrance to the tomb is guarded by two huge stone eagle.

There are also bas-reliefs that depict the ancestors of Antiochus – Alexander the great (ancestor on the maternal line) and the Persian king Darius (ancestor on the paternal line). The Western part of the monument is decorated with sculpture in the form of a lion, which has a height of 1, 75 meters and a length of 2, 5 meters. The back of the lion is decorated with 19 stars, each star comes with 16 rays (small 8 stars emit rays). On the breast of the lion Crescent. Three of the biggest stars depict Mars, mercury and Jupiter. Perhaps it was the oldest horoscope in the world. With respect to the exact destination lion statues is unknown.

After the excavation, archaeologists have found the remains of king Antiochus was carved into the rock in the cave. After the burial cave was closed to the mound. To our times the burial chamber was never opened.

The ruins of the monument was discovered by the German engineer Karl Sisters in 1881. During the two following years there were organized 2 expedition to Turkey. After that the excavations lasted until 1989, when the territory was declared a National Park.