Mug Shot — «Ankara - Ankara Castle»

City: Ankara Country: Turkey Edition: 2008 Icon Edition Belongs to: 432 users (30 trading, 157 seeking)

Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. Centrally located in Anatolia, Ankara is an important commercial and industrial city. It is the center of the Turkish Government, and houses all foreign embassies. It is an important crossroads of trade, strategically located at the centre of Turkey's highway and railway networks, and serves as the marketing centre for the surrounding agricultural area. The city was famous for its long-haired Angora goat and its prized wool (mohair), a unique breed of cat (Angora cat), Angora rabbits and their prized wool (Angora wool), pears, honey, and the region's muscat grapes. The historical center of Ankara is situated upon a rocky hill, which rises 150 m above the plain on the left bank of the Ankara Çayı, a tributary of the Sakarya river. The city is located about 450 km to the southeast of Istanbul, the country's largest city. Although situated in one of the driest places of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation except for the forested areas on the southern periphery, Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, which is 72 m2 per head. Ankara is a very old city with various Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archaeological sites. The hill which overlooks the city is crowned by the ruins of the old castle, which adds to the picturesqueness of the view, but only a few historic structures surrounding the old citadel have survived to the present day. There are, however, many finely preserved remains of Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine architecture, the most remarkable being the Temple of Augustus and Rome (20 BC) which is also known as the Monumentum Ancyranum.

Ankara Castle  is a fortification from ancient or medieval era in Ankara, Turkey. The exact date of its construction is unknown. Having been controlled by Romans and Byzantines earlier; it was captured by Seljuq Turks in 1073, by Crusaders in 1101 and again by Seljuqs in 1227. The castle saw extensive repair by the order of İbrahim Paşa in 1832 during the Ottoman era. The outer citadel surrounds the old Ankara. There are 42 pentagonal towers along the walls, which range between 14–16 m in height. The inner castle covers around 43 km2. Its southern and western walls intersect in a right angle, the eastern walls follow the ledges of the hill and the northern side was protected with a different type of defensive walls.

photo by lucky
edited by mobydick74

  Turkey, Ankara

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