Kız Kulesi is a medieval

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

located on small islet, 1 km west of the center of Pazar,

Rize Province Rize Province ( tr, Rize ili) is a Provinces of Turkey, province of northeast Turkey, on the eastern Black Sea coast between Trabzon Province, Trabzon and Artvin Province, Artvin. The province of Erzurum Province, Erzurum is to the south. It was ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. According to A. Bryer it was built between 13th to 14th centuries, during the time of the

Trebizond Empire The Empire of Trebizond, or Trapezuntine Empire, was a monarchy and one of three successor rump states of the Byzantine Empire, along with the Despotate of the Morea and the Principality of Theodoro, that flourished during the 13th through to t ...

. According to another sources castle was built by Genoese, as a summer residence for the daughter of a Genoese prince. Local Laz tradition claims that the castle belonged to Queen

Tamar of Georgia Tamar the Great ( ka, თამარ მეფე, tr, lit. "King Tamar") ( 1160 – 18 January 1213) reigned as the Queen of Georgia from 1184 to 1213, presiding over the apex of the Georgian Golden Age. A member of the Bagrationi dynasty ...

,KIPSHIDZE, I. (1939). Textes Tchanes (Lazes). Édition de la Filiale Géorgienne de l'Académie des Sciences de l'URSS, Tbilisi (in Georgian). who founded the Empire of Trebizond on the Black Sea coast in 1204 after the

Georgian expedition to Chaldia Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

Architecture

The interior plan of the tower is about 7 x 7 m. The walls are about 1.5 m thick at ground level. They are faced both in the interior and exterior with regular courses of rectangular blocks. The gateway is in the west wall.

References

External links

RİZE PAZAR CİHA KALESİ VE KIZ KULESİ
{{Castles in Turkey Buildings and structures in Rize Province Empire of Trebizond Castles in Turkey Tourist attractions in Rize Province Pazar, Rize