Ancient site· İpekyolu, Van

Van Castle

Van Kalesi

Van Castle is a ancient site in İpekyolu, Van; Urartian rock citadel above Lake Van — King Sarduri II's cuneiform inscriptions are still legible on the cliff face.

Van Kalesi
Bjørn Christian Tørrissen · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

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Urartian rock citadel above Lake Van — King Sarduri II's cuneiform inscriptions are still legible on the cliff face.

Editor's Note

Source: Kültür Portalı · Wikidata This information is compiled from the sources shown.

The Fortress of Van is a massive stone fortification built by the kingdom of Urartu between the 9th and 7th centuries BC, the largest of its kind. Rising on a steep bluff on the shore of Lake Van about 5 km west of the city, it overlooks the ruins of Tushpa, the ancient Urartian capital. The structure measures roughly 1,800 m long, 120 m wide and 80 m high, its lower walls of unmortared basalt and the rest of mud brick. Successive powers including the Medes, Achaemenids, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks and Ottomans each controlled it at various times.

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Highlights

  • Architectural remains from antiquity
  • The layered history of Anatolian civilizations

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