Citadel :: ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Citadel

NKR / Shushi / Karkar

Location

The Citadel (geographical coordinates: N 39° 47’32.6” E 46° 45’32.9”; 1,105 metres above sea level) of Karkar was unclosed on a hill (about 150 metres long and 60 metres wide) predominating over its surroundings with its height of 10 to 15 metres and rising at the edge of the gorge of Zarun Bagh, at the western extremity of the plateau.

Sargissian Gagik & Hakobian Alexan, The Newly-Unearthed City Site of Karkar in Artsakh, in: "Vardzk", 2011, N 4, p. 50.

Description

A detailed view of the bare surface of the hill enables one to discern a mound of earth formed by the ruins of the wall once encircling the Citadel. It runs in the horizontal line of the middle part of its slopes and encloses the hill. The top of the Citadel retains the vestiges of a large circular building of stone beneath which, within the enclosing wall, the utterly corroded remnants of another, larger one are seen. While observing this last one, you may mentally restore a multi-room complex adjoining an open court. The northern slope of the Citadel preserves—in a comparatively better condition—the remnants of the stone-built walls of numerous structures which were partly saved from weathering and decomposition thanks to the thick forest cover.