Armenia, Travels and Studies (Volume 2 of 2): The Turkish ProvincesLynch, H. F. B. (Harry Finnis Blosse)
History
Armenia, Travels and Studies (Volume 2 of 2): The Turkish Provinces
Lynch, H. F. B. (Harry Finnis Blosse)
Armenia
The character of the walls may be described as a single rampart, with
hollow towers at intervals, some round, and others pentagonal. The
rampart has a thickness of about six feet, and consists of a pile
of stone, faced with hewn and jointed blocks after the manner of
the old Armenian masonry. But the greater part of this facing has
fallen away or been stripped off, displaying the raggedness of the
pile within. We could find no evidence of breaches having been made
in the enclosure; nor were there any visible traces of its having
undergone a siege. The wall along the shore has long since disappeared;
[238] and the lake has encroached upon its rocky bank. About halfway
down the more southerly wall is situated the inner walled enclosure
of the palace or citadel. This inner fortress comprises an area
which is roughly rectangular, and which is of no great extent. It
is flanked along the three inner sides by a rampart and towers, but
the city wall is at the same time the wall of the citadel along the
fourth or outer side. The site is signalised by a slight projection
of the fortification, and by the greater propinquity of the towers
to each other. From the tower at the north-eastern angle of the
citadel a cross wall is carried down to the sea. The upper portion
of the principal enclosure, as well as the space within the citadel,
is now completely bare. Nothing but the foundations of houses and
buildings can be discovered within that area. The few modern houses
are collected in the south-east corner, and have been built from the
material of the old fortress. Their inhabitants resemble phantoms
rather than human beings; but the orchards, which are confined to
this lower part of the enclosure, enhance the picturesqueness of the
old kala, sloping down the hillside to the blue water.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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