About the Vîrân Kal‘a

Viran Tepe is a fortified mound in the citadel.  Viran Tepe was the nucleus of the city from ancient times due to its natural spring and defensive capabilities (Kakdaş Ateş, 2018, page 48).  It has an area of around 10,000 square feet and is around 150 feet tall (Kakdaş Ateş, 2018, page 48).  It was fortified in the early 13th century under the Artukid ruler Nasir al-Din Salih Mahmut bin Muhammad, housing an elaborate palace (Haspolat, 2014, page 182).

The spring in the citadel supplied multiple locations in the city (Coşkun, page 253).  Çelebi describes:

The water that turns the mills of this citadel comes out of the rock in the citadel by God’s command and turns the water mills. It passes through the palace of Bıyıklı Mehmet Pasha, leaves the castle through an iron cage window, and after pouring down from Fiskaya, it hits itself from stone to stone and flows into the Tigris river like a waterfall (in heaven). This spring water of the citadel tastes like the pure water of heaven. (Coşkun, page 254)

It appears that this water was also made to supply the Nasuh Paşa, Fatih Paşa, and Arap Şeyh mosques and the Yeni Kapı Hammamı by order of Suleiman the Magnificent (Coşkun, page 254).

By 1827, the fortifications were in deep disrepair:

We had even difficulty in ascending to the platform near its centre, being obliged to mount over rubbish and fallen fragments; and, on reaching the top, we found the desolation so complete, that several of the dismounted cannon, which had been left there, were now more than half buried in the earth and long grass that had grown up around them. (James Silk Buckingham, page 212)

Viran Tepe was also described as “a heap of rubbish” by Badger in 1852 (Badger, 1852, page 40).  A canon atop Viran Tepe was used in 1915 to shoot off the bell tower of the Surp Giragos Yegeghesti (Մկունդ, 1950).