The Fortress of Van

The Fortress of Van, also known as the Citadel of Van, is a stone fortress built in Tushpa, the capital of Urartu, which stood on the site of the present-day city of Van. The fortress overlooks the ruins of Tushpa. The lower parts of its walls are built of basalt, the rest of mud brick. At different times the fortress belonged to the Achaemenids, Armenians, Parthians, Romans, Sasanians, Byzantines, Arabs, Seljuks, Turks and Russians.

Near the fortress, on a smooth rock face, is carved the trilingual inscription of the Persian king Xerxes from the 5th century BC, in Old Persian, Babylonian and Elamite, in 3 columns of 27 lines. It was first published by the French orientalist Eugène Burnouf in 1836.

The photograph shows the fortress walls on a rocky hill, the modern city of Van below and snow-covered mountains behind.