Ardahan Castle

Ardahan Castle in the Halilefendi municipality of Turkey is a medieval fortress variously attributed to Georgian builders, while an account records an initial fortification erected in the 12th century under Seljuk rule.

During the medieval period the site functioned as a regional stronghold. The settlement around the castle was formerly called Parakan, and the fort appears in later records under that name or as Parakani. Ottoman forces took the Artanuci and Artani regions from Georgian control in 1551, and Ottoman records thereafter refer to the place as Parakan; a 1595 fiscal register records the site as Rabat-i Kala-i Parakan. An inscription on the castle records Ottoman repair work in 1556, and the castle was renovated in the 16th century by order of Suleiman I. The 1556 repairs included the demolition of a Georgian church located within the fortress and the reuse of its stones when rebuilding the castle walls. Stones bearing Georgian lettering were reused in the masonry and survive in the fabric of the walls.

Under Ottoman rule the castle saw frequent military use, at one period being restricted for military purposes so that free entry was not allowed; later accounts note that the castle is now freely accessible. In 1917 the researcher Konstantine Martvileli recorded the fortress under the name Artaani Castle, described it as the second-largest castle in the Ardahan sancak, and reported that the machicolated sections of the walls remained standing despite neglect and the effects of the First World War. Martvileli also recorded that internal buildings, including the castle church, were partially ruined with only small portions of the church walls visible, and he noted carved Georgian inscriptions on interior and exterior stones, two Georgian inscriptions in the Hutsuri script outside the castle, and an Armenian inscription in red paint on an interior stone.