Çandır Castle

Çandır Castle
Mersin Province, Turkey
The mesa from west
Çandır Castle
Coordinates
Type	Fortress
Site information
Open to the public	Yes
Condition	A part of the church still standing.
Site history
Built by	Byzantine Empire
Demolished	Most of it

A part of the church

Çandır Castle is a medieval castle in Mersin Province, Turkey.

Geography

The castle is in the Toros Mountains at . It is situated to the east of Ayvagediği and Gözne and to the north of Mersin. The distance to Mersin is about 40 kilometres (25 mi). The castle shares the same name with a village lying to the south of the castle. (see Çandır, Mersin). It is built on a mesa (tableland) . The altitude of the mesa is 1,125 metres (3,691 ft). Its height with respect to surrounding is about 50 metres (160 ft) and the only access to the mountain is from a narrow tunnel which makes the mesa an ideal for place for a castle.

History

Most historians believe that the castle may be the castle of Baberon which is mentioned in conjunction with Byzantine Emperor Zeno in the 5th century. Zeno who was an Isaurian built the castle and spent a part of refuge years in the castle. But the castle rose to prominence during the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in the 12th and 13th centuries. It controlled two roads to Central Anatolia.

The castle

The only entrance to castle is via a narrow tunnel of 20 steps and an outside ladder of 140 steps. In parallel to ladder there is an inclined plane which was probably used for haulage. The castle is large, but most of the walls as well as the buildings are in ruins, and exact area is not known. Since it is practically impossible to climb the walls there are no bastions. But a part of the two storey church at the south survives.

Trivia

Now a small house has been built in the castle for the fire warden appointed by the Ministry of Forestry

External links

• 360Mersin page (For images)