Rumkale: Fortress on the Euphrates

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1. What is Rumkale?
2. How do you get to Rumkale?
3. When is the best time to visit Rumkale?
4. What is the history of Rumkale?
5. What is Rumkale famous for?
6. What can you see at Rumkale?
7. Frequently asked questions about Rumkale
8. What do the official records say about Rumkale?

What is Rumkale?

Rumkale (“Roman castle”, historically Hromgla) is a fortress built on a high rock at the meeting of the Euphrates and the Merzimen stream. Its walls follow the edge of the cliffs, and inside are the remains of churches, a monastery, a mosque, cisterns and a deep well cut through the rock down to river level. Since the Birecik Dam reservoir filled, the rock has become a peninsula in a long green lake, and the castle is one of the most photographed views on the Euphrates.

The 2002 inventory describes it as a monastery-like castle, sacred to Christians, with traditions linking it to St John. It lies in Gaziantep province but is often visited by boat from Halfeti, just upstream in Şanlıurfa.

How do you get to Rumkale?

By road: The inventory puts Rumkale 62 km from Gaziantep and 25 km from Yavuzeli, at Kasaba village. From Kasaba you look across to the fortress; the last stage is by boat or on foot depending on access at the time.

By boat from Halfeti: Most visitors come on the boat trips from Halfeti, about 110 km from Şanlıurfa and roughly the same from Gaziantep. Boats run along the reservoir past the half-submerged village of Savaşan to the foot of Rumkale. Ask the boat operator whether the trip includes landing and time to walk up into the fortress, as access has changed with restoration work.

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When is the best time to visit Rumkale?

April to June and September to October. The boat ride is pleasant in the heat, but the climb up the rock is steep and exposed, so in July and August go early in the day. Weekends and public holidays bring crowds of day-trippers to Halfeti; weekdays are quieter. Wear shoes with grip for the stone paths.

What is the history of Rumkale?

The inventory says there is no certain information about Rumkale’s history, but it has had strategic importance since very early times because it commands the Euphrates. It says the castle was built by the Assyrians in the 9th century BC and passed in turn to the Medes, Persians, Romans and Arabs. The Assyrian king Shalmaneser III recorded the site in the 9th century BC.

In 1148–1150 the Armenian Catholicos Grigor III Pahlavuni bought the fortress, and it became the seat of the head of the Armenian Church. Nerses IV, known as Nerses the Gracious (Shnorhali), poet and theologian, was elected Catholicos here in 1166; the inventory notes that a church named after him and his tomb are in the castle, and that he died in 1173. The Mamluks besieged Rumkale without success in 1280 and took it in 1292 after a long siege, renaming it Qal’at al-Muslimin. It became Ottoman in 1516 and was governed as a district of Aleppo. In the 17th century Evliya Çelebi described strong walls and a mosque, han and bath. After 1832 its people moved to Kasaba village below.

Restoration of the walls and buildings has been carried out in recent years to open the site to visitors.

What is Rumkale famous for?

• The setting. A walled rock rising out of the Euphrates reservoir, best seen from a boat.
• St John. A tradition holds that the apostle St John lived here and wrote his Gospel in a room cut into the rock.
• The Armenian Catholicate. For about 140 years Rumkale was the seat of the Armenian Church.
• The deep well. A shaft cut through the rock down to the level of the Euphrates.

What can you see at Rumkale?

Walls and towers. Seven rectangular towers stand on the east and north walls, pierced by arrow slits. A rock-cut moat of the 12th century separated the castle from the high ground to the south.

The Church of St Nerses. A rectangular church associated with Nerses the Gracious, dated to the 12th century.

The Barşavma Monastery. A 13th-century monastery of square rooms under cross vaults.

The well. Wells around 75 m deep reach down to the river; the tradition of St John’s room is attached to a rock-cut chamber at the well entrance.

The mosque. The remains of the Ottoman mosque described by Evliya Çelebi.

The view. From the top you look down on the Euphrates, Kasaba village and the cliffs of the Merzimen valley.

Frequently asked questions about Rumkale

What do the official records say about Rumkale?

Rumkale stands on a fortified hill at the meeting of the Euphrates and the Merzimen stream, in Kasaba village of Yavuzeli district. It is 62 km from Gaziantep and 25 km from Yavuzeli. Although there is no certain information about its history, it is known to have had strategic importance since very early times because it commands the banks of the Euphrates.

It is told that St Johannes, one of the apostles of Jesus, lived in this monastery-like castle, known in antiquity as Hromgla, chose it as his base for spreading Christianity, wrote the Gospel of John in a rock-cut room at the entrance of the well that still exists today and kept his drafts there, and that the Gospel was later smuggled to Beirut. It is known that the tomb of St Johannes is said to be in this castle and that for this reason it is considered sacred by Christians. There are also a church built in the name of St Nerses, the last patriarch recognised as a saint, who died in 1173, and his tomb at Rumkale. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Gaziantep Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)