Hoşap Castle (Güzelsu)

 castle, place with historical importance, archaeological site, fortress, listed building / architectural heritage, historic landmark

Hoşap Castle (Turkish: Hoşap kalesi) is a large medieval castle in the village of Hoşap (literally in Kurdish meaning: Good or Sweet Water), official name Güzelsu, located in southeastern Turkey. Most of the surviving structure was built by a local Kurdish lord named Mahmudi Suleyman in 1643.

The former town of Hoşap lay on the flat ground north of the castle rock and in the enclosed space on the opposite side of the castle from the road; the present village extends into this space. The town was defended at one corner by the castle and elsewhere by a wall, which originally started from the ends of the castle’s two cliffs. Built of mud, and toothed with the remains of mud battlements, the wall of the early Ottoman period can still be seen in stretches.

On the north of the former town it now starts from a point beyond but the line of the cliff, near the Van road and extends along a natural ridge eastwards. From the castle’s southerly cliff the wall crosses the low saddle to the north-east. The two walls meet at the summit of the next hill, in order to keep control of all the land commanding the town. Beyond this hill’s summit stretches a seemingly empty expanse of low, spreading hills.
Aerial view filmed by a drone - travelwithdrone.com/hosap-castle/