İspir Castle is a medieval castle in the town of İspir, the administrative centre of the district of that name in Erzurum, in the historical region of Speri. It is known from Georgian and other foreign sources as well, and stands south-west of the town on a rock mass beside the Çoruh river.
The castle was clearly worked on more than once and spreads over several terraces. Its walls are quite high in places and have fallen in others. Within it stands a fairly large basilica, thought to have been built in the ninth or tenth century under the kingdom of Georgia or in the Byzantine period, though the building is largely ruined. In the upper part of the castle is a mosque with a single minaret, built in the nineteenth century using the facing stones of the ruined basilica.
The castle has been restored and stands in a position commanding the Çoruh river and the town of İspir. Because of the dam on the Çoruh, the ground below the castle is now under water.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Erzurum as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -9.1 °C in January to 19.6 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in July and August; rainfall is heaviest in May (73 mm) and lightest in August (18 mm). Long-term means for 1929-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
