Guide
The settlement known today as Toprakkale lies north-east of Van, on the Van plain, among the rocks of Zımzım dağı. It was founded by the Urartian king Rusa II, who ruled from 685 to 645 BC, and was therefore called Rusahinili, the city Rusa founded. It was the second capital of the kingdom of Urartu.
On the slopes of the same mountain, the slopes that look toward the lake, a rock niche holds the inscription called the Meherkapı, which is the second and more important work of the Urartian king Išpuini. Locally the monument is known as the blind gate, the gate of treasure or the false gate.
The inscription stands four metres high and 2.70 metres wide, and within the niche it is repeated twice. It gives the names of the seventy-nine gods and goddesses honoured in the Urartian pantheon, together with the kinds and numbers of animals to be sacrificed to each of them.
