Guide
Kayalıdere is an Urartian settlement on a small hill about twenty kilometres from Varto, on the shore of the Alpaslan-2 reservoir, also known as the Kale Şehri. It was found during archaeological excavation in 1965, and the work there uncovered a castle, a temple, a wine cellar, graves and small settlements. The city is dated to the reign of the Urartian king Sarduri II, between 764 and 735 BC, and the huge stone blocks in it are what catch the eye; the castle remains are in sound condition.
The temple has a stone-paved courtyard, and the finds made in it — two small bronze lion figures, buttons, arrowheads, bronze needles and pieces of a belt decorated with a lion hunt — are not kept here: they are displayed at the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations in Ankara.