Van Fortress

The Fortress of Van (also known as Van Citadel; Turkish: Van Kalesi; Armenian: Վանի Բերդ; Kurdish: Kela Wanê) is a massive stone fortification built by the ancient kingdom of Urartu during the 9th to 7th centuries BC, and is the largest example of its kind. It overlooks the ruins of Tushpa, the ancient Urartian capital during the 9th century, which was centered upon the steep-sided bluff where the fortress now sits. A number of similar fortifications were built throughout the Urartian kingdom, usually cut into hillsides and outcrops in places where modern-day Armenia, Turkey and Iran meet. Successive groups such as the Medes, Achaemenids, Armenians, Parthians, Romans, Sassanid Persians, Byzantines, Arabs, Seljuks, Safavids, Afsharids, Ottomans and Russians each controlled the fortress at one time or another. The ancient fortress is located just west of Van and east of Lake Van in the Van Province of Turkey.

Silva Tipple New Lake led an American expedition to the ruins in 1938–40. Most of the finds and field records from this were lost in the sinking of the S.S. Athenia in 1940.

The lower parts of the walls of Van Citadel were constructed of unmortared basalt, while the rest was built from mud bricks.

Such fortresses were used for regional control, rather than as a defense against foreign armies. The ruins of this fortress sit outside the modern city of Van, where they support walls built in the medieval era.

Text adapted from “Van Fortress” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Van Fortress ranks #862 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #21 of the 126 mapped in Turkey. Founded c. 850 BC, it is older than 100% of the atlas's dated landmarks. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 4,390 times in the last 60 days, more than 82% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Turkey compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗