Kalepark

What remains today of the fortress.
Construction of the warehouse of the Genoese in Trebizond (Leonkastron). Fantastical fresco by Luca Cambiasi, painted around 1571. Palazzo Lercari-Parodi in Genoa.

Kalepark (originally called Leonkastron; and later Güzelhisar, meaning "Beautiful Castle" in Turkish)[1] was built by the Genoese and Venetian merchants as a medieval fortress on the east side of Trabzon, Turkey. The fortress was built on a rocky outcrop strategically overlooking both harbors of the city: the summer harbor at a distance to the west, and the winter harbor just to the east of it.

The Genoese initially made arrangements with the local government to obtain the land to secure their trade, but the relationship between the rulers of the Empire of Trebizond and the Genoese inside the fortress over time became problematic.

In the 1740s, a palace was built for the Ottoman Governor Ahmet Paşa at the same location, which was destroyed by a fire in 1790.

The castle was frequently shelled during World War I by the Russian naval forces, due to its easily accessible location near the Black Sea coast.[2]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Trabzon soul(Tr) Archived 2011-10-16 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Ganita(Tr) Archived 2011-10-04 at the Wayback Machine.

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