Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Saving lives is extra necessary than archaeological and historic websites. However, regretfully, we should inform you that the traditional Gaziantep Castle has been badly broken after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Turkey within the early hours of February 6.
“Some of the bastions in the east, south and southeast parts of the historical Gaziantep Castle in the central Şahinbey district were destroyed by the earthquake, the debris was scattered on the road,” Turkish state-run information company Anadolu reported.
Gaziantep Castle in Turkey. Credit: Adobe Stock – sayilan
“The iron railings around the castle were scattered on the surrounding sidewalks. The retaining wall next to the castle also collapsed. In some bastions, large cracks were observed,” the report mentioned.
The dome and jap wall of the historic Şirvani Mosque, which is positioned subsequent to the citadel and is alleged to have been constructed within the seventeenth century, additionally partially collapsed, it added.
Known domestically as Gaziantep Kalesi, the historic stone citadel was first constructed as an commentary level by the Hittite Empire in the course of the second millennium B.C.
It was later constructed right into a essential citadel by the Roman Empire within the 2nd and third centuries A.D. Between AD 527 and 565, Emperor Justinian II, one of many Byzantine Empire’s most important rulers, expanded and renovated the stronghold.
In 661 AD, the citadel handed out of Christian arms, with the Umayyad dynasty, which had originated in Mecca, turning into its new house owners. It stayed in Muslim arms till 962 when the Byzantines recaptured it.
“In 1067, the Seljuk Empire took it from the Byzantines earlier than Christian Crusaders captured the citadel in 1098. From there, it handed to the Ayyubid dynasty, based by the good Kurdish conqueror Saladin, the primary sultan of Syria and Egypt.
Centuries of conquest and reconquest adopted, till Gaziantep Castle was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1516.
Inscriptions on the citadel state that it was largely rebuilt in 1557, in the course of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, which ran from 1520 to 1566. Safeguarded by the Ottomans, the positioning misplaced a lot of its navy significance.
The citadel, which the Romans and Byzantines used, has been closely broken by the earthquake. Credit: Daily Sabah/DHA
During the siege of Antab, fought between Turkish nationwide forces and the French Army of the Levant occupying the town of Aintab in the course of the Turkish War of Independence, Gaziantep acquired an honorific prefix which means “warrior”, after its inhabitants defended the town towards the French.
In more moderen instances, the citadel website was the situation of the Gaziantep Defence and Heroism Panoramic Museum, and attracted a big numbers of holiday makers. “1
The historic Gaziantep Castle has withstood bloody battles and invasions, however the forces of Mother Nature are stronger and at the moment, it had no likelihood towards the horrifying earthquakes that hit Turkey.
Archaeologists concern many extra historic websites have been destroyed on this quake.
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
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