Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Yılankale

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Open to the public
  
Yes

Built
  
13th century

Condition
  
Ruins

Yılankale

Address
  
Küçükburhaniye Mahallesi, Adana Ceyhan E-5 Karayolu, 01920 Ceyhan/Adana, Turkey

Built by
  
Leo (Levon) I of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

Similar
  
Adana Archaeology Museum, Büyük Saat, Taşköprü, Great Mosque, Seyhan Dam

Y lankale


Yılankale (Turkish for "Snake Castle") is a late 12th–13th century Armenian castle in Adana Province of Turkey. It is known in Armenian as Levonkla (Լևոնկլա "Levon's fortress") after its possible founder—King Leo (Levon) I the Magnificent (r. 1198/9–1219) of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. Medieval Armenian names attached to the site are Kovara and Vaner.

Contents

It is located on a rocky hill overlooking the east bank of the Ceyhan River, six kilometers west of the town of Ceyhan.

The walls, as well as the numerous horseshoe-shaped towers and vaulted chambers, are built with beautifully cut rusticated masonry and are carefully adapted to the coiling outcrop of limestone to create three baileys. The archaeological and historical assessment of this castle published in 1987 (with a scaled plan) describes each unit in detail. In the upper bailey is an Armenian chapel with its apse and north wall preserved. The assumption that the relief of a seated king with two rampant lions in the gatehouse door depicts King Levon I (confirming the conclusion that he was the castle’s early 13th-c. founder), was convincingly challenged by both iconographic and archaeological evidence, which shows that the relief portrays either Kings Het’um I (1226–70) or Het’um II (1289–1307).

According to information on the Çukurova University website, the castle was abandoned during the reign of the Ramadanids in the mid-14th century.

It has been described as the "most perfectly preserved Armenian castle" of the Çukurova (Cilicia) region. The castle is open to the public and was renovated in summer of 2014.

Y lankale snakecastle ceyhan adana phantom 2 vision by ta5a


References

Yılankale Wikipedia