The aspect of Erzerum, when seen from without, is sombre and unattractive. This impression is principally due to the colour of the stone of which it is built and to the scarcity of trees. I am tempted to offer my reader two illustrations of the place, the one taken from the higher ground on the south, and displaying the features of the great plain with the city in the foreground and in the distance the lofty outline of the northern heights ([Fig. 164]); the other looking south-west from the roof of the British Consulate, with the castle in relief against the slopes of the Eyerli Dagh on the right of the picture ([Fig. 165]). This view does not comprise the peak of Palandöken, situated a little further to the left. The eminence in the centre is a nameless mass, intermediate between the two greater mountains and screening the cirque from the plain. A curious feature in the landscape of the city, when seen from very near, are the chimneys, which look like rows of dove-cots. The smoke escapes at the sides. It is strange that the inhabitants display so little love of verdure, for the sun is always brilliant and productive of glaring lights, while during two or three months of the year its rays are fierce. The few gardens that there are grow quantities of lilac, of a perfection of bloom and colouring and perfume which surpasses any examples I have seen elsewhere. Abundance of delicious water flows down from the heights on the north; and under happier circumstances the slopes and the plain outside the city would be dotted with dwellings embowered in trees. At the present day, when once you have passed outside the enceinte, you feel like a ship which has taken to the open sea. Not a hedgerow, no oasis of foliage diversifies and softens the naked and vast expanse. You steer your course whither you will. For at least five months in the year the ground is covered with snow—an unbroken sheet spread over mountain and plain. Little specks in the landscape are recognised as villages; and now and again a gliding object—it might be a boat on the ocean—moves swiftly towards the city and, approaching nearer, is seen to be a sledge. The climate of Erzerum has been compared to that of St. Petersburg, but the comparison is most unhappy and in many respects fallacious. Sun and sky belong essentially to the South. It is only the great altitude of over 6000 feet above sea-level that produces the rigour of winter and the crispness of the summer nights. My daily observations of temperature during the months of December and January supply the following results. In December the highest reading at 9 A.M. was 37° Fahrenheit, or 5° above freezing-point; and the lowest at the same time of the day was 8°, or 24° of frost. During January the maximum at 10 A.M. was 30° Fahrenheit, and the minimum at the same hour was -19½° centigrade, or 3° below zero of Fahrenheit. Double windows and German stoves are necessaries in such a climate; and, as you take your ride of an afternoon and gallop over the powdery snow, it is necessary to protect the ears against frost-bite. On the other hand, it is not easy to realise the severity of the weather, so brilliant are the rays of the sun. And the warmth of walking exercise completes the illusion of a snowfall in summer, while your spaniel ranges widely over the endless white surface, intent upon his forbidden pursuit of the larks.
Fig. 165. Erzerum from the Roof of the British Consulate: the Citadel in the middle distance and Eyerli Dagh in the background.
The charm of the place—and it has a charm which must appeal to all sensitive minds—consists in the grandiose scale of the surroundings—the sculpturesque beauties of the parallel lines of mountain which meet in the perspective of the west; the subtle effects of light and tint, which are those of some summit in the mountains transferred to the habitable earth. The setting of the sun and the rising of the moon reflect the originality of such conditions. The plain itself must be close upon 6000 feet high; it has a length, from west to east, of eighteen miles, and it is not less than some ten miles across.[10] In its trough lies the infant stream of the Western Euphrates, which, rising on the slopes of the Dümlü Dagh,[11] a mountain of the northern border, is for some little distance lost in a zone of marshes, almost opposite the city but not less than about five miles away. These marshes are quite an aviary of all kinds of wildfowl, which, besides supplying eggs to the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, afford most excellent opportunities to the sportsman.
The enceinte, or circumvallation of Erzerum was constructed during the period between the war of 1855 and that of 1877. It consists of a rampart or ramparts of earth with ditches, and resembles the enceinte of Paris. Cannons are mounted upon it at intervals. It embraces an area of about three square miles, and is furnished with four principal gates. That on the west is called the gate of Erzinjan, and the one on the east the gate of Tabriz. The gates on the north and south-west are named respectively the Olti and Kharput gates. Each gate is guarded by sentries. The space enclosed within this rampart is only partially covered by buildings, the town occupying not more than about a square mile of ground. Down to comparatively recent times Erzerum consisted of a citadel and walled city, with suburbs lying outside the walls. These walls, which dated back to the Byzantine period, were double and defended by sixty-two towers. They were further protected by a moat. Their circumference appears to have been not less than three or four miles, and no Christian was allowed to reside within them. They were provided with four gates, bearing the same names as those in the present enceinte. Texier, who visited Erzerum in 1839, records that Greek characters were to be seen upon the gates, and crosses incised in the stones of the walls. Both features were evidently of Byzantine origin. His authoritative testimony is supported by at least two of his predecessors, Hamilton (1836) and Poser (1621). The last-mentioned traveller describes a marble bas-relief and Greek inscription which he saw upon one of the gates. I have little doubt that this bas-relief is the same of which Yusuf spoke to me as having been copied by Consul Taylor in the sixties and taken to the British Museum. The document is, however, not forthcoming in our national treasure-house, and the original has disappeared. Only in the central and more southerly quarters of Erzerum did I observe a few remnants of the old walls. The citadel is still in existence, crowning the highest ground in the city, and it still contains the famous old tower. It seems to have served as a watch-tower, and was provided with a clock which the Russians carried away in 1830. In old days the captain of the Janissaries resided in the citadel; and the only occasion upon which a pasha of Erzerum would enter that sanctuary was if he came to have his head cut off.[12]
Not many ancient buildings remain in the city, which has not seldom been visited by severe earthquakes. One of the most violent occurred in the month of June 1859, destroying or seriously damaging 4500 houses, overturning several portions of the old walls and levelling nine minarets with the ground.[13] The most pretentious edifice is the old medresseh or college, called Chifteh Minareh.Chifteh Minareh or the double minaret ([Fig. 166]). My illustration is from a photograph taken many years ago, before the caps of both minarets had fallen away. I was unable to obtain permission to enter the edifice, which was being used as a military store. It has been described at some length by more than one of my predecessors, and it is, I believe, an architectural solecism.[14] The façade of hewn stone with elaborate traceries contrasts with the brickwork of the pair of circular towers which rise from stone piers on either side. The circumference of each tower is diversified by eighteen small shafts, morticed into the main mass. The space between each pair of shafts is filled by a triangular moulding, of which the edge or narrow side faces outwards. Shafts and moulding are built of reddish kiln-burnt bricks, inlaid with small blue bricks. At the base of either pier is a large panel, framing an elaborate ornament in sculptured stone. Between the uppermost sprays of a bunch of foliage or feathers rests the device of a double-headed eagle. The stalks or quills of the garland rest in the hollow of a small semicircle, which is supported by the interlaced forms of two dragons. The question is suggested whether this double-headed eagle be the well-known emblem of the Roman empire over East and West. But we know that the emblem was adopted by the Seljuk dynasty of the Ortukids and by their successors the Ayubids;[15] and, indeed, if one were left to one’s own judgment, one might well suppose that this was a monument of the Seljuk period. On the other hand, a Cufic inscription, communicated to Professor Koch in the forties by the dragoman of the British Consulate, is to the effect that this building and an adjacent mosque were founded by a nameless benefactor during the caliphate of Malek Khan and in the year of the Hegira 351 (A.D. 962). The inscription is described as consisting of two portions, one on either tower.[16] Personally I could not discover any trace of Cufic writing, nor, so far as I am aware, has such been observed upon this monument by any of my predecessors. Adjoining the building on the south side is a circular tomb in hewn stone, resembling the mausolea at Akhlat, which are works of the thirteenth century. Tradition ascribes the tomb to a Sultan of Persia.[17]
Fig. 166. Erzerum: Chifteh Minareh.
Ulu Jami.The large mosque of Ulu Jami is not more than a few steps distant from the entrance to Chifteh Minareh. It has rather a vast interior with several vaulted aisles; but it is devoid of architectural pretensions. I was shown an ancient paper belonging to this mosque, in which it was stated that it had been built by the Head of the Government and Religion, Mohammed el-Fateh, in A.H. 575 or A.D. 1179.
The most pleasing situation in the city is that which is presented by the disposition of the buildings as you make your way southwards up an irregular ravine or gully, down which trickles a little stream. On your right hand the high ground is crowned by the bastions of the citadel; while to your front, on the same heights a little south of these grim walls, rise the slender towers of Chifteh Minareh. The slopes on the east are much gentler, and are covered with houses, terraced up the incline. Here and there you may discern a pile of stones, or a block of masonry abutting on a house. These fragments are the Relics of the old walls.relics of the old walls, which formerly separated the great mosque, the Chifteh Minareh and the citadel from the suburbs with which these buildings are now continuous. One may turn aside among the houses to visit a Holy well.holy well, which is frequented by both Mussulmans and Armenians. The former assert that it is situated on the spot where the successor of Sheikh Abdul Kader of Baghdad is said to have met his death. The latter attribute its origin to a miracle, by which the water welled up from the ground upon which was shed the blood of two of their martyrs, the brothers Isaac and Joseph. They met their fate in A.D. 796.[18] The spring rises from the mud floor of a humble little house, and is quite tepid to the touch.