Diyarbakır Fortress, is a historical fortress in Sur, Diyarbakır, Turkey. It consists of an inner fortress and an outer fortress.The main gates of the fortress are: Dağ (Mountain) Gate, Urfa Gate, Mardin Gate and Yeni (New) Gate. The walls come from the old Roman city of Amida and were constructed in their present form in the mid-fourth century AD by the emperor Constantius II. They are the widest and longest complete defensive walls in the world after only the Great Wall of China (the Theodosian Walls for example are longer in length, but are not continuous)UNESCO added the building to their tentative list on 2000, and listed it as a World Heritage Site in 2015 along with Hevsel Gardens.
Diyarbakir fortress is constructed with stone, black basalt, and adobe, and has gone through countless renovations; the basalt fortifications are exceptionally durable, one reason why the structure has remained relatively intact for over 2000 years. Diyarbakir fortress is among the best surviving examples of a castle or fort built with a natural feature like a cliffside or body of water on one side as a boundary. The walls have a symbolic function as well as a defensive purpose, with inscriptions on the inner city's walls (the fort) that testify to the city of Diyarbakir's history.
Today, Diyarbakir Fortress can be divided into two categories, the bailey and the citadel. In the northeast, the citadel contains the first settlement inside Diyarbakir, and those walls stretch 598 meters long. The bailey houses a tower and the city walls, surrounding the much more urban walled city region of Diyarbakir. Most of these walls are constructed with traditional masonry and construction styles; the towers consist of 2-4 floors and are 4.4 meters thick on the ground floor and get thinner on higher floors.
The castle plans reveal the dominance of two different building forms, circular and tetragonal. The walls were divided into five groups, four of which contained the towers around the four main gates, while the fifth contained the citadel towers. It has been found that 65 of the original 82 towers still remain on the outside of the city's walls and 18 of the citadel's towers remain today. Due to cultural differences, the fort has undergone some modifications. The fort was reconstructed, repaired and or heightened over time. However, the overall typology has remained constant in the fort's renovations.
Diyarbakir fortress is constructed with stone, black basalt, and adobe, and has gone through countless renovations; the basalt fortifications are exceptionally durable, one reason why the structure has remained relatively intact for over 2000 years. Diyarbakir fortress is among the best surviving examples of a castle or fort built with a natural feature like a cliffside or body of water on one side as a boundary. The walls have a symbolic function as well as a defensive purpose, with inscriptions on the inner city's walls (the fort) that testify to the city of Diyarbakir's history.
Today, Diyarbakir Fortress can be divided into two categories, the bailey and the citadel. In the northeast, the citadel contains the first settlement inside Diyarbakir, and those walls stretch 598 meters long. The bailey houses a tower and the city walls, surrounding the much more urban walled city region of Diyarbakir. Most of these walls are constructed with traditional masonry and construction styles; the towers consist of 2-4 floors and are 4.4 meters thick on the ground floor and get thinner on higher floors.
The castle plans reveal the dominance of two different building forms, circular and tetragonal. The walls were divided into five groups, four of which contained the towers around the four main gates, while the fifth contained the citadel towers. It has been found that 65 of the original 82 towers still remain on the outside of the city's walls and 18 of the citadel's towers remain today. Due to cultural differences, the fort has undergone some modifications. The fort was reconstructed, repaired and or heightened over time. However, the overall typology has remained constant in the fort's renovations.
