Guide
This mansion in the Ortakapi quarter of Kars is one of the city's Ottoman domestic buildings. Its exact date is not known, though it is estimated to have been built in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Its name comes from Ahmet Muhtar Pasha, commander of the Fourth Army during the Ottoman-Russian war of 1877-78 — the war Turkish sources call the War of 93 — who earned the title Gazi in that campaign and used the house for a time as his headquarters.
The building has two storeys on a nearly square plan and follows the classical Ottoman house. The main thing to look at outside is the large balcony on the south front, where the entrance is, with its carved woodwork. Inside, the heating arrangement — the pec system, a stove heating several rooms through the walls — is the other feature worth noticing. The house has been repaired and restored at various times and is now open as a culture house. There is a bust of Ahmet Muhtar Pasha at the entrance, and inside are wax figures, military equipment, maps and photographs. It stands on Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Paşa Caddesi in central Kars.
