Historic cannonball stolen from southern castle

MERSİN – Doğan News Agency

On a 3,500 square-meter area, Mamure is one of the largest castles in Turkey.

The cannonball in the entrance of the 1,500-year-old Mamure Castle in the southern province of Mersin has been stolen. The castle was listed on the UNESCO Temporary World Heritage List in 2012. 

Officials, seeing that the cannonball, which had been there for centuries, was not in its place informed the gendarmerie and the museum directorate. The gendarmerie has launched an investigation into the event. 

The Anamur District Museum Director Murat Kalas told the gendarmerie the stolen cannonball had not been registered in the inventory list of the museum. Scrap dealers and illegal antique dealers are being investigated. 

Mamure Castle 

The Mamure Castle is one of the most well-preserved medieval castles in the Mediterranean. It was built by the rulers of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia on the foundations of a fourth-century Roman castle. The castle has a unique medieval fortification with the characteristics of various armies, including the Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks, Karamanoğulları and Ottomans. Covering an area of 3,500 square meters, the castle is one of the largest castles in Turkey. 

The castle has a magnificent location for defense, overlooking the sea around the region. In 1469, the castle was annexed by the Ottoman Empire. It was subsequently repaired in the 15th, 16th and 18th centuries and a part of the castle was used as a caravanserai (a resting place for travelers).

The western courtyard contains a small complex with a single-minaret mosque and a ruined Turkish bath. The southern courtyard has the remains of a lighthouse.