The Khoshap Fortress – Vaspurakan, Western Armenia

Khoshap is a fortress that was once located in Western Armenia, Vaspurakan (now Turkey). The fortress was built southeast of Lake Van on a plateau surrounded by high mountains.

Since the times of the Kingdom of Van (Urartu), the fortress was positioned on an important trade route to Persia. No wonder that the structure was quite significant.

According to a legend, the head architect was deprived of his hands so that he would never build anything as beautiful again. People say that the Khoshap fortress is a pearl of the region as it is impossible to find a fortress similar to this.

Located on a rocky massif near Khoshap River, it has been used by the Byzantine Empire, Vaspurakan Kingdom, Abbasids, Seljuks, Ilkhanids, Kara Koyunlu, Aq Qoyunlu, and Safavids. But now, the fortress bears the shape given to it by the Ottoman Empire.

If you look at the fortress from the south, it resembles a nest of an eagle located on a rock. This majestic spectacle is one of the rare examples of architecture that have survived to this day.