Ancient water cistern in Harput Castle to be promoted

ELAZIĞ

The 2,500-year-old water cistern unveiled during the excavations in the Harput Castle in the eastern province of Elazığ, will be brought to tourism.

The excavation works carried out under the leadership of Prof. Dr. İsmail Aytaç, a faculty member at Fırat University, in the Harput Castle have been continuing for 10 years.

Many historical structures and more than 100,000 historical artifact objects have been excavated in the castle, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

Recently, a 700-year-old metal workshop was discovered in the castle along with a 2,500-year-old water cistern, located just below the workshop.

The cistern, which has a year-round average temperature of 12 degrees, is still under construction and the stairs are currently being restored in aims to promote the castle for tourism.

Providing information about the works in the castle and the recently discovered cistern, Aytaç said that these kinds of stepped cisterns were of strategic importance as they were large water reservoirs and responded to the castle’s needs especially during sieges.

“During the studies we conducted over the past years, we found five metal melting furnaces connected to each other. This was an important proof that metal ores were converted into finished products in Harput. As you know, there is a very large iron and metal production workshop between two bastions in our castle. The ones above the cistern are exceptionally important because as far as we know, there is no other cistern in the world with metal workshops located above it,” Aytaç added.

“The castle has been opened to visitors by the Culture and Tourism Ministry. In this regard, we have now focused more on restoration and promotion works in 2023 with the fact that the more areas we bring to tourism in Harput Castle, the more it will contribute to the economy. We are trying to carry out works with various institutions and sponsors. In this regard, we estimate that it will be the first in terms of opening the iron production workshops in the castle to tourism. The works here will provide the stages to enter the World Cultural Heritage Noble List. In this respect, the works here are very important for us.”

Also known as Milk Castle colloquially, the Harput Castle was built by the Urartu Kingdom in the eighth century B.C.

Legend says that since there was a shortage of water during the construction of the castle and an overabundance of milk, milk was added to the mortar, earning the castle the nickname "Milk Castle."