Van Castle
Urartian Citadel Of Tuspa, 9th Century BC, With Royal Rock Cut Tombs And Cuneiform Inscriptions Including One Of Xerxes; On The UNESCO Tentative List · Van, Van
A limestone ridge stands out of the plain west of Van, and in the ninth century BC the kings of Urartu cut their citadel into it and called the place Tuspa. What survives is extraordinary for its age: chambers and royal tombs cut straight into the rock, cuneiform inscriptions carved high on the cliff face - one of them left by Xerxes, in three languages, on a ledge that is hard to reach even now - and later Seljuk and Ottoman walls built on top of the Urartian work. The climb is steep and worth it, because from the top you see two things at once: Lake Van filling the horizon, and immediately below, the empty grid of the old city of Van, destroyed in the fighting of 1915 to 1918 and never rebuilt. Two mosques and a church stand roofless in the grass where a city of tens of thousands used to be. The modern city was rebuilt five kilometres away, which is why the old grid below the rock is still empty.
Kalecik Mahallesi, Van Kalesi, Ipekyolu, Van, Van, Turkiye
Open daily with longer summer hours and an earlier winter close; the climb is steep and the gate closes well before dark. The ruined old city below the rock is open ground. Sunset over Lake Van from the walls is the reason most people come, so check the closing time against it rather than assuming. Winter snow and ice make the climb dangerous.