Satlel Castle

Satlel Castle, locally known as Satlel Kalesi or Şavşat Kalesi, lies on a hill next to the town of Şavşat, in the province of Artvin in Turkey.

When exactly Satlel Castle was built is not known. It was built out of rubble masonry. This, its plan and other architectural features, resemble other castles in the area, which were built by the Georgian Bagratids. Due to this resemblance, it is estimated that the castle was built somewhere during the 9th century.

Later, during Seljuk rule in the 12th century, Satlel Castle was used by regional governors, called Atabegs. After that it was also used by the Ottomans. When the castle fell to ruin, I do not know.

This is all the historical information I was able to find about Satlel Castle. If you know more, please mail me.

When I visited Satlel Castle, it seemed as if there had been some archaeological excavations carried out recently. This made the visit very interesting as there were several buried storage jars and other architectural details to be seen.

Satlel Castle is freely accessible. A very nice castle.

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