Fortress Pasinler (Pasinler Kalesi) description and photos - Turkey: Erzurum (Topic)

Pasinler Kalesi fortress description and photos - Turkey: Erzurum. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Pasinler Kalesi.

Photo and description

To the east of Erzurum, close to the ancient caravan route, and now the Erzurum-Tabriz highway, there is an arcuate Khasanbaba mountain range. Over the road, controlling the valley, hangs the ancient fortress of Hasankale, at the foot of which lies the small city of Pasinler (the old names of Hasankale and Hesenqele, which means the fortress of Hasan).

The fortress is located on the ancient Great Silk Road, in the northern part of the Pasin plain, on a steep cliff near a mountain slope. The Erzurum fortress, presumably, was built by the Byzantines in the first half of the fifth century AD

The citadel rises to the edge of heaven and is truly breathtaking when you look at it from below, from the side of Ilydzha. This fortress is a beautiful stone structure, majestic like the Milky Way, it is a kind of shield on the plain. Apart from the commandant, the imam and the muezzin, there is no one in it. On a fortress hill in the middle of the city, you can hear a whole concert of muezzins (muezzin - calling believers to prayer from the top of the minaret).

Horses and donkeys cannot climb this mountain slope, so in ancient times everything had to be delivered to the fortress by hand. For Murad Khan IV, the conqueror of Yerevan, it was an important castle, which, despite its small size, served as a watchtower.

Pasinler is a fairly large fortress with two rows of walls. This beautiful stone fortification, which has the shape of a quadrangle, looks like a huge swan from the side. Its walls are about eighteen yards high. There are very shallow ditches on three sides, but there is no particular fear and fear of the enemy, since here is a very low place, and the land is all saturated with water and the enemy, even if he wants to, cannot dig trenches here. If you dig to a depth of even one cubit, then water immediately emerges - this is a lost and hopeless place.

The Erzincan Gate faces west. These iron gates are huge in size. The secret gate and the Il?ca gate located in the eastern part are locked. The fortress numbered about seven hundred soldiers, had an excellent arsenal and sixty small and large cannons.

Inside the citadel, there are five hundred and ninety brick winter houses covered with clay, it has nine blocks and nine mihrabs. The most beautiful cathedral mosque of all those present on the territory of the fortress is the Suleiman Khan mosque. This is a mosque of old work, not high and with one minaret. It is also covered with clay. There is a small market, one caravanserai, one bathhouse and six schools for children. All residents were brave, capable, skillful and skilful people, and, despite their poverty, surprisingly hospitable.

There are no vineyards and gardens either in the fortress or near it - a harsh and extremely cold winter. However, despite this, cereal yields are quite rich.

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Topic: Fortress Pasinler (Pasinler Kalesi) description and photos - Turkey: Erzurum.