The Citadel of Amasya (Amasya Kalesi) is situated atop Mount Harşena on the north bank of the Yeşilırmak. It was first constructed in the Hellenistic period at which time Amasya (Amaseia) was the seat of the Pontic Empire. It was restored multiple times, first in the Byzantine period, and then during the Seljuk period under the reign of sultan Kayqubad I (r. 1220-1237/616-634 AH), who reinforced its walls. It was restored a third time during the Ottoman period.
Ottoman historian and geographer Evliya Celebi describes the citadel as being pentagonal in shape, and as having a palace, ammunition depots, and cisterns.1 Today the ruins of the citadel contain a madrasa built in the fifteenth century as well as a Sufi lodge and bathhouses.
Sources:
Gabriel, Albert. Monuments Turcs d’Anatolie, 2:15-16. 2 vols. Paris: E. de Boccard, 1931-1934.
Taeschner, F. “Amasya.” Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_0583
Wolper, Ethel Sara. Cities and Saints: Sufism and the Transformation of Urban Space in Medieval Anatolia. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003.
