The shore castle at Ahlat rises on the edge of Lake Van, south of the ruins of the old town. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the castle was destroyed in 1224 and rebuilt in 1556 by Suleiman the Magnificent. The rebuilding is described in some detail: returning from his Iranian campaign, Suleiman came to Ahlat, visited the graves of all his forebears, and ordered Zal Pasha and Mimar Sinan to build a sound castle so that Ahlat should prosper, and it was built to the description he gave.
The castle is quadrangular, three thousand paces round, with walls that are not especially high and thirteen towers; its ditch is not deep but its walls are wide and solid. On the side facing the lake is a triple iron gate. It once held 350 houses, a mosque, a bath, a han and some twenty shops. Today only the castle itself stands, though remains of the buildings inside it can be found. Two of Ahlat's important historic buildings, the İskender Pasha Mosque and the Kadı Mahmut Mosque, are within the walls, along with examples of domestic building such as the drum house and a bath.
Getting there
- Access
- In the Ahlat district of Bitlis, reached by vehicle from the provincial centre.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Bitlis as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -4.2 °C in January to 23.1 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in March (196 mm) and lightest in August (7 mm). Long-term means for 2011-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
