Restoration of quake-hit Gaziantep Castle nears completion

GAZİANTEP

The restoration work in the historical Gaziantep Castle, which was damaged during the Feb. 6, 2023 earthquakes, has been continuing uninterruptedly despite temperatures reaching 40 degrees in the city.

The work on the castle is slated for completion by the end of the year, with plans to reopen it to visitors soon after.

The bastions and interior parts of the 2,000-year-old castle were destroyed in the earthquakes. Some bastions in the eastern, southern, and southeastern parts of the castle, as well as the retaining wall surrounding it, collapsed.

Built on a hill in the center of Gaziantep in Türkiye’s southeast, the castle is known to have served for observation purposes during the Hittite era and its construction date is unknown. After it was seriously hit by the earthquakes, the Culture and Tourism Ministry initiated restoration last year on the historic castle.

The castle has been undergoing restoration for about a year and is now in its final stage, with workers laboring diligently in temperatures exceeding 40 degrees to address the earthquake’s damage while also grappling with dust from the stones as they repair the bastions.

Serdar Murat Gürsel, the chairman of the Gaziantep Municipality, Conservation Application and Control Bureaus (KUDEB), said that Gaziantep Castle, one of the symbols of the city, sustained damage in the earthquakes like many other historical buildings.

“Right after the earthquake, scientific committees were formed and the right intervention techniques for these structures were developed under the light of academia, science and technology to make projects quickly. One of the projects was for the castle. With the approval of the projects, restoration work began. Now the castle has regained its old appearance. The restorations in the castle are soon to be completed. The walls and bastions have been repaired. Inside, the walking paths, sections in the inner and lower castle are also being repaired,” he said, adding that Gaziantep Castle will be opened to visitors at the end of this year.

Mentioning the campaign launched by Gaziantep Mayor Fatma Şahin in 2017 with the slogan "Now is the time to come to Gaziantep" to revitalize the city's tourism, Gürsel reported that tourist groups coming from all over Türkiye to visit the southeastern and eastern Anatolia regions also visit the historical and touristic places of Gaziantep. He also noted that the campaign continues to yield results, leading to a substantial increase in tourist arrivals.