Kars Castle is the symbol of the city and its dominant landmark. It is situated on top of a high rock at the west end of Karadag, to the north of the city.
The fortress was first built in Seljuk times, in 1153 by the vizier Firuz Akay under the rule of Izzeddin Salduk, but was then destroyed along with the rest of the city by the army of Timur in 1386. Suleyman the Magnificent started the reconstruction of the fortress during his second eastern expedition but could not complete it as a result of a sudden attack by the Persian army.
Sultan Murat III sent a ferman to Mustafa Lala Pasha for the city’s reconstruction; master builders were sent from Trabzon and reconstruction started in 1579 on the original plans. The fortress measures 250 meters by about 100 meters, and has 220 towers and 2080 embrasures. Its premises are 3,500 meters long. It had three gates, named Su (water), Orta (Middle) and Behrampasa.
Karahanoglu Stone Bridge, The hill of the Castle and Vaizoglu Mosque. Photograph: Yildirim Ozturkkan Archive
KARS STREAM
Kars Stream is one of the most important ecological features of Kars, and forms a natural divide between the old city built by the Seljuks and Ottomans and the Tahtduzu area built during the Russian period. The stream crossing the city makes a west turn from the castle and then flows north to join the Arpacay River coming from the Armenian border. Together they flow along the border to join the Aras River.
The area alongside Kars Stream behind the castle has very rich flora and fauna. When the stream freezes in winter, people walk across it and children toboggan.
CATLAK KALE TOWER
This tower was built in the old city in 1579 by Beylerbeyi Behram Pasha, and is also known as Catlak Bastion. It is the main tower that enables the city walls to bend towards the Bayrampasa neighborhood. Another tower is in front of the Evliya Mosque.
KARAHANOGLU BRIDGE (TASKOPRU-STONE BRIDGE)
The bridge, with its three arches, crosses the Kars Stream and was built by Lala Mustafa Pasha in 1579 at the order of Sultan Murat III. It was destroyed by floods except for part of the pillars in 1715 and was rebuilt four years later by a local notable, Haci Ebubekir Karahanoglu.
The bridge was out of service between 1877 and 1915 during the Russian occupation, and its inscription was damaged. The calligraphist Mustak Hatifi Karahanoglu, the grandson of bridge’s original builder, rewrote the inscription and sent it to Kars but it was lost on the way. One of his students finally made the inscription which can still be read on the central arch, naming the builders, thanking God for making it possible and asking God to watch over those who cross it.
Karahanoglu Stone Bridge. Photograph: Yildirim Ozturkkan
The bridge cost 4,200 kurus at the time – a high price considering that master builders were paid two paras a day and workers one para (one kurus was 40 para). Haci Ebubekir Bey built a mansion in the old city after the bridge and spared part of this mansion for a public library with 400 volumes. It is the first known library built in Ottoman times. The books today are at the Erzurum Ataturk University.
LITTLE BRIDGE (IRON BRIDGE)
This bridge was built over the Kars stream between 1878 and 1918 during the Russian occupation. It was built out of basalt stone on two cylindrical cantilevers with three vaulted arches.
DEREUCU - SECOND STONE BRIDGE
On the right of this bridge over the Kars stream, built in 1855, there is an Arab bastion and on the left there are English bastions, indicating the strategic importance of this bridge. It was built by English colonel, Henry Atwell Lake, and is still in use.
BEYLERBEYI PALACE
The palace was built in 1579 in the old city by Lala Mustafa Pasha to house the Ottoman governor-general, though only its ruins have survived.
12 APOSTLES CHURCH (KUMBET MOSQUE)
The construction of the church started in 932 AD and was completed in 937 AC by the Bagradit king Abbas. Basalt stones were used in the construction and the building was shaped like a four-leaf clover. The relief of the 12 apostles in between the window arches of the dome is striking. The church was converted into a mosque in 1579 and is now known as Kumbet (cupola, dome) Mosque.
When the Russians arrived, the building was used as a church. They added a belfry and additional buildings at the entrances to protect the church from the cold. The church became the seat of the archbishop, and a priest’s house and garden walls were added in 1882. In subsequent years the belfry tower was destroyed and it was converted back to a mosque, though for a period it was also a museum. Today the outer walls of the building are being restored.
12 Apostles Church, Bell Tower and Evliya (Muslim saint) Mosque. Photograph: Yildirim OztUrkkan Archive
HAMAMS
Kars has three hamams, all displaying interesting architectural features that were built during the Seljuk and Ottoman periods, and all are currently under restoration.
MAZLUMAGA HAMAM
Situated in the south strand of the Kars Stream, Mazlumaga is the biggest of all. The hamam is made of face stone and currently inactive.
The entrance is through a round-arched door, and the wide room at the entrance contains a large pool. Unlike most hamams, the cool room (tepidarium) is L-shaped. The room where the famous Russian writer bathed in 1829 was named the Pushkin Honor-Place by the Russians, and samples of his handwriting, together with a collection of his work and bronze busts of the author, were displayed here until 1917, when the Russians retreated.
The largest of the hamams in the vicinity, the Mazlumaga Hamam is intended to become a Healthy Living Center by the Kars Municipality.
MURADIYE (ELBEYIOGLU) HAMAM
This is also called the Hamam with a Balcony, and is situated along the Kars Stream near the stone bridge. It was built in 1774 (H 1188) according to the engraving on one of its walls. Its wooden entrance was added later on the left of the furnace room, when newly built houses blocked the original entrance.
Mazlumaga, Muradiye, Topcuoglu Hamams and Karahanoglu Stone Bridge from the Kars castle. Photograph: Yildirim Ozturkkan
TOPCUOGLU HAMAM
The plan of this hamam, which was built in 1742 (H 1155) according to the date engraved on one of its walls, is different than the classical hamam. The large cool room, which is covered with a dome, is partially built outside the main building and its main entrance was located there. Its inscription is lost. The cool room receives light from three windows and has a round pool in the middle. The wooden changing rooms were added later. The tepidarium is reached through a low arched door. The building is under restoration by the Kars Municipality and will be used as a cultural center.
THE HOUSE OF NAMIK KEMAL
The brick and stone house in between the stone bridge and Mazlumaga hamam is the house of Namik Kemal, a famous Turkish poet. Its ground floor is 350 years old. Kemal lived in this house for one year in 1853 with his grandfather Abdullatif Pasha who was the governor of Kars Sandjak, and he wrote his first poems here. The building will be used as a social center.
KABUN- KAB CHURCH (BESIK MOSQUE)
This is one of the oldest buildings in Kars, built between 1044–1064 during the Byzantine rule as an Orthodox Greek Church then later converted into a mosque.
ULU MOSQUE
This mosque was built in 1643 for the governor- general of Kars, Dilaver Pasha, during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Ubrahim. It was heavily damaged during the Russian period and restored in 1997.
EVLIYA (SAINT) MOSQUE
When the grave of the Muslim Saint Ebul Hasan Harakani was discovered in 1579 during the reconstruction of Kars, Sultan Murat III ordered a mosque and tomb to be constructed here for him. The mosque was destroyed to its foundations in 1604 during the Persian invasion and was rebuilt with an earth roof in 1617. It was destroyed once more during the 1877–1878 Ottoman-Russian War. In 1917 the site was visited as a sanctuary and in 1996 it was rebuilt.
The mosque was originally built on Harakani’s grave, and another grave belonging to a woman was found during the construction. These findings suggest that the area was used as a cemetery at the time of the Saint’s life. The woman’s embalmed body was taken to the Petersburg Museum by the Russians.
EBUL HASAN HARAKANI TOMB
This tomb is situated in the garden of the Evliya Mosque. The sheikh was born in the Harakan village of Bukhara in Horasan and came to Kars with the first incursions of the Seljuks in 1021, led by Cagri Bey, the father of the Sultan. He was killed during the fighting at the Yahni Mountain. The tomb was destroyed with the mosque during the Persian invasion of 1604; its demolition and reconstruction took place at the same time as that of the mosque.
CELAL BABA TOMB
The tomb is located at the right of the castle’s main entrance. Celal Baba, who was killed during the Mongolian invasion of Kars in 1239, is considered to be the spiritual owner and protector of the castle.
ARAP BABA MARTYRS CEMETERY
M. Hasimi Konevi, the grandson of the dervish Sadrettin Konevi who was descended from the Prophet Muhammed, died here in battle in 1856. The hill overlooking Kars in the northwest and today dotted with GSM stations and TV transmitters is the Arap Baba cemetery, and the saint of that name is entombed here.
AHMET TEVFIK PASHA MANSION
This two-story mansion with a terrace, situated across the Kars Stream on the southwest side of the castle near Muradiye Hamam, was built by a wealthy inhabitant of Kars, Haci Eyup Bey, in 1764. It reflects the early Ottoman architectural style which was heavily influenced by the Seljuk style. It also bears some characteristics of the Kars style. The mansion was later used as headquarters by Eyup Bey’s son, Colonel Ahmet Tevfik Pasa, who defended Kars fiercely, and was named after him. It was restored in 2006.
PASHA MANSION
This mansion was built in the 19th century by the Russians for their senior officials in Kars, and is in the Baltic architectural style. Today the building is used by the Caucasus University. There are many more buildings built during the Russian period behind the castle along the stream.
Photograph: Yildirim Ozturkkan Archive
