Vishki Stronghold :: ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Vishki Stronghold

NKR / Shushi / Karkar

Location

A small fort (N 39°47’32.6,” E 46°45’32.9”; 1,105 metres above sea level), serving as a military unit, was unearthed on a two-humped hill named Vishki (at present three aerial towers are located there), on the right edge of the highway descending from Shushi to Stepanakert, on the left side of the gorge of Zarun Bagh, 1,010 metres north-west of the Citadel of Karkar in a straight line (azimuth: 300°).

Sargissian Gagik & Hakobian Alexan, The Newly-Unearthed City Site of Karkar in Artsakh, in: "Vardzk", 2011, N 4, p. 51.

Description

At the lofty top of the hill, a watch tower of large volumetric coverage is situated: it is constructed of “cyclopean” stones and has a circular plan (with a diameter of 6 to 8 metres). The middle part of the hillside is enclosed within ramparts laid with stones of smaller dimensions. The overground pottery found in this monument resembles the architectural finds of Karkar, which date back to the early and medieval periods of the history of the city. The results of our excavations lead us to the presumption that the cyclopean tower of the aforementioned castle served as a vantage-point for Karkar in the Iron Age. In the medieval period, it was widened by means of a lower row of ramparts and started being used as a patrol castle.