TAHTDUZU (NEW CITY)

The center of Kars moved from the old city inside the walls to Tahtduzu during the 40 years of Russian rule following the 1877–1878 Ottoman-Russian War. The city was built according to what is called a grid plan. The buildings of the time are mostly concentrated in the areas which are now known as Ortakapi, Yusufpasa and Cumhuriyet. They are mostly houses, offices and public buildings and some religious buildings.

THE REVENUE OFFICE (DEFTERDARLIK)

One of the most interesting buildings of Kars, the Revenue Office was built in 1883 and originally designed to host entertainment events. But it ended up serving as a government office for a while and then was used as the Revenue Office. Its corner balconies and ornamentation are noteworthy.

GUEST HOUSE OF THE REVENUE OFFICE

This building’s most striking feature is the ironwork on its stairs and banisters. There are also wood decorations on its south and southeast walls. The construction date (1897) is written on the door. It was first used as a court house but following its restoration was opened up as a guest house of the Revenue office.

GOVERNOR’S MANSION

This building was built in 1883 by a rich Armenian family who came from Erzurum, and was used as the parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Southwest Caucasus during its brief existence in 1918. During the War of Liberation it served as the headquarters of the defense led by Kazim Karabekir Pasha. The 1921 Treaty of Kars was also signed here. More recently it was used for a long time as a governor’s office, but then the governorship allocated it to the Kars Research Center for restoration. It is scheduled to be reopened as museum.

HEALTH DIRECTORATE – OLD HOSPITAL

Situated on Ordu Street in the Yusufpasa neighborhood, this L-shaped building’s front facade is decorated with plant and geometrical motifs engraved on andesite stone. There are also decorative columns on the front. The rest of the building was constructed with the basalt conglomeration technique. It is a three- storey building, including the basement. The construction date (1903) was engraved on its rails. It was used as a hospital for many years but is now the headquarters of the regional Health Directorate.

OLD U.S.S.R CONSULATE

Situated on Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Pasa Street the building, featuring a remarkable balcony, is currently used as a house.

ISMET PASHA PRIMARY SCHOOL

The building was constructed between 1886 and 1888 for military purposes. Following the final liberation of Kars on 30 October 1920, Kâzim Karabekir Pasha converted it to a boarding school for orphans and named it the Ismet Pasha School. The first students arrived in 1926. The building has an interesting history. The Gregorian Armenians, who formed a powerful group during the Russian period, wanted to build a church on this land. The Catholic Armenians had a Frenk Church on the southwest of the stone bridge. The Church of the 12 Apostles, on the other hand, was used as the seat of the Metropolitan. The Russian military governor refused the Gregorian Armenians’ demand, saying that according to the laws another sect could not build a church within 750 meters of the Metropolitan seat. Instead the church was built on the site of the old municipal hamam. In 1964 the Kars Municipality relocated this church and rebuilt the hamam.

THE HOUSE OF TUNCER GUVENSOY

This house was built in 1890 and for many years was used as an animal market. Then the owner of the Kars Hotel, Tuncer Guvensoy, bought and restored it.

DOCTORS GUEST HOUSE CHELTIKOV MANSION OPERA HOUSE

Built in 1894 for the Russian Cheltikov family, at some point it was also used as an opera house by the Russians. Later it hosted the Agricultural Equipment Board, and today it is used as a guesthouse for doctors.

OLD MUNICIPALITY BUILDING

This was built by a rich Armenian named Sitavuyski from a village near Erzurum in 1883.The Russians used it as a girls’ school and a second floor was added in 1903 when the building could no longer accommodate the students. After 1920, it was used as the Municipality until 2005 when the Municipality was moved to a new building and this one was taken under restoration. It has now been restored as a five-star hotel.

Old Kars Municipality. Photograph: Yildirim Ozturkkan

FEVZI PASHA PRIMARY SCHOOL

This building is located in the Haci Said neighborhood, where Turks lived, and the land was owned by a Turk. Following the Russian occupation Pecinov built a house on this land, and when Kars was recaptured it was united with another house next to it and was turned into a pharmaceutical depot until 1922, after which it was used as a school. It was restored in 1989 and is still in use as a primary school.

ANATOLIAN HIGH SCHOOL

The only state building build by Tsarist Russia in Kars was this two-storey structure, originally a bank that lent money to farmers. The outer walls are constructed with face stone and decoratively-placed tufa stone. It was used during the Republican Era as a branch of Ziraat Bankasi (the agricultural bank) and was then abandoned for a while. Later it was extended on the west side and converted into an Anadolu High School, a name given to .state-funded private high schools in Turkey.

CITY COUNCIL

In its early days it was used as a customs building but since its restoration it has been used by the Kars City Council. An old horse - carriage is on display in front of the building.

ALEKSANDR NEVSKI – RUSSIAN MILITARY CHURCH (FETHIYE MOSQUE)

This is a classical representative of Russian Orthodox Church architecture. It was built after the 1905 Japan War by the Russians in the Ortakapi neighborhood and is also known as the Kazhak Church.

The rectangular building has three entrances, with its doors protruding one meter forward from the walls. It has four roof windows with a pointed-arch shape. One of the most important features of this impressive building was its onion domes, which unfortunately have not survived.

From the early years of the republic until the 1970s, the building was used as an indoor sports venue and the inside of the church lost much of its originality due to numerous repairs. In 1985 it was converted into a mosque with the addition of two minarets. The statue erected by Russians to signify their victory was also removed after the recapture of the city.

Aleksandr Nevski – Russian Military Church (Fethiye Mosque). Photograph: Yildirim Ozturkkan Archive

GAZI AHMET MUHTAR PASHA MANSION

This two-story building inside a walled garden was used as a headquarters by Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Pasha. It was made of stone, wood and lime. The entrance is through a large wooden door, and a wooden balcony runs along the facade. There are wooden carvings on the columns connecting the balcony to the ceiling. The top floor was used in summers, and the bottom floor in winters.

The access to the second floor, which is heated by the Pec system , is through stairs located at the back of the building. There are three pec fireplaces in the building. The ceilings are made of wood and the roof is covered with earth. The canopy over the balcony is a metal sheet. It was used as a museum in later years but is now an art gallery.

GERMAN HOUSE

This house was built by Germans from the Volga region, also known as Nemis, during the Russian occupation. After 1914 it was owned by a rich inhabitant of Kars named Hasan Tekel. Its calligraphic and painted decorations are striking, as is the building’s architecture. One of the paintings displays a view of the Black Forest in southern Germany, probably the former home of the previous owners. The writings and pictures display quotes and depictions from the holy books.

MIRRORED PAVILION – HOUSE OF ISMET YAZICI

This was built by Russians at the junction of the Digor road. It has been vacant for a while but the plan is to turn it into a House of Culture.

KARS MUSEUM

Construction of the museum, in the Kars Istasyon neighbourhood, began in 1978 and the museum opened in 1981 displaying a variety of archeological and ethnographic works dating from the Bronze Age and the Urartu, Roman-Byzantine, Christian and Seljuk eras. Among the exhibits are sikkes (old coins), photographs and the wagon given to Kazim Karabekir Pasha as a present by the Soviet Union.