Hoşap Castle

Hoşap Castle (Turkish: Hoşap kalesi, Kurdish: Kela Xoşebê, Armenian: Խոշաբ բերդ) is a large medieval castle located in the village of Hoşab, Gürpınar District, Van, Turkey. It is at a distance of approximately 50 km to the city center of Van.

Hoşap Castle
Hoşap Kalesi
Hoşab, Gürpınar District, Van, Turkey
Castle of Hoşab
Hoşap Castle is located in Turkey
Hoşap Castle
Hoşap Castle
Coordinates38°19′02″N 43°48′06″E
TypeCastle
Site information
Controlled byMinistry of Culture and Tourism
Open to
the public		yes
Site history
Built1643
Built bySarı Süleyman Bey

History

Most of the surviving structure was built in 1643 by Sarı Süleyman Bey, chief of the Kurdish Mahmudi tribe. [1] [2] Hoşap or Xoşabê means "beautiful water" in Kurdish. [3] [4] Fortress received its name from the river of the same name.[5]

The former town of Hoşap lay on the flat ground north of the castle rock and in the enclosed space on the opposite side of the castle from the road; the present village extends into this space. The town was defended at one corner by the castle and elsewhere by a wall, which originally started from the ends of the castle’s two cliffs. Built of mud, and toothed with the remains of mud battlements, the wall of the early Ottoman period can still be seen in stretches.

On the north of the former town it now starts from a point beyond but the line of the cliff, near the Van road and extends along a natural ridge eastwards. From the castle’s southerly cliff the wall crosses the low saddle to the north-east. The two walls meet at the summit of the next hill, in order to keep control of all the land commanding the town. Beyond this hill’s summit stretches a seemingly empty expanse of low, spreading hills. Until the '50s of the 19th century, the fortress-city of Khoshab had about 1,500 families, including 1,000 Armenians. [6] Until 1847, semi-independent Kurdish beys also resided there, but in the same year the Ottoman government, occupying the fortress, abolished their semi-independent rule. [7]

Further reading
  • Castle Sevgen, AK.I.137-46; Goodwin 188. Hist.: Evliya, Üçdaş ed., IV.1297-8; Arakel of Tabriz, tr. Brosset, 502, 510-14.
  • Hovhannesean, Castles 304-6 (17th & 18th century); Jaubert, Voyage 362-3; Layard, Nineveh and Babylon 385, 386-7 (desc.).
  • Berkian, Thesis 159-61. Bridge. Çulpan, Taş Köprüler 175-6; Goodwin 188 & fıg. 181. (Thesis on munumentsmentioned SanTarYıl 3(1969–70), 270).
  • Sinclair, T.A. (1987). Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archeological Survey. London: The Pindar Press. p. 212-215.

References
  1. "Hoşap Kalesi". Governorship of Van (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  2. Verity Campbell - Turkey - 2007 - 724 pages, page 643, ISBN 1-74104-556-8
  3. "Hoşap". nisanyanyeradlari (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  4. Diana Darke (2011). Eastern Turkey. Bradt Travel Guides. pp. 289–. ISBN 978-1-84162-339-9.
  5. Forteresse de Hoşap à Güzelsu 38°19′02″N 43°48′06″E
  6. "Koç Çiftçi, İ., 1915 Van'da Ermeni İsyanı ve Aram Manukyan, C. 9, 1138-1160" (in Turkish). Akademik Tarih ve Düşünce Dergisi, Van Yüzüncü Yıl University. June 25, 2022. p. 4.
  7. "A Notable Family in Van During the 19th Century: Timurpashazâdes (PDF)" (in Turkish). Van Yüzüncü Yıl University. December 31, 2022.
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