Qishlag Fortress (Fortress Complex)

In the village of Qishlag in the Kavar district of the Goycha district

Kavar district – from 13.04.1959 Kamo, Qishlag village was destroyed and liquidated between 1831 and 1873.

Architecture

The remains of the Qishlaq fortress complex remained in the territory where they were located until the mass deportation of Azerbaijanis in December 1988. Today, these fortresses, whose remains are in the ruined village, have been appropriated by Armenians.

The Qishlag fortress complex is located in the southwest of Lake Goycha, in the delta of the Kavar River, on a high ground near the shore. The Qishlag fortresses were discovered by academician B. Piotrovsky in 1935 and confirmed as a historical fact. Although the Armenians call these fortresses “Mrtbi-dzor”, B. Piotrovsky classified the fortresses in his works as “Qishlag-1”, “Qishlag-2”, “Qishlag-3” and specifically indicated that these fortresses, standing face to face on the right and left banks of the river, were not independent fortresses, but played the role of chain links of the Ordakli-Bashkent fortification complex. And according to the academician, two of them were purely defensive, and the third was absolutely domestic in nature.
The most interesting thing is the architectural solution of the fortresses. It is not easy to say anything specific about the castle on the right bank, since only the foundation of large rocks remains. On the left bank, part of the castle walls remains. This is an example of masonry consisting of two walls filled with a special reinforcing mortar, a technology that has not been observed in any ancient architectural example in the world. In addition, in front of the wall there is a system of rocks that do not connect with each other, which is similar to the trap walls of the ancient Blue Turks. The terrace systems used at the corners of the castle can be evaluated, first of all, as devices designed to protect against attacks from the sea.

The complex of fortresses "Qishlag-1", "Qishlag-2", "Qishlag-3", located opposite each other on the right and left banks of the river, are not independent fortresses, but rather act as links of the Ordakli-Bashkent fortification complex. Qishlag was not only a ring of defensive fortifications, but before this appointment, Qishlag had a long history of settlement. So long that the population was able to settle down to the level of self-defense thinking.