The Four Corner Castle of Mardakyan
Mardakyan village, Baku, Azerbaijan
Description:
The four-cornered castle in the village of Mardakyan was built by order of Ahsitan I, son of Shirvanshah Manuchehr III. The heir to the Cesranid dynasty wanted to perpetuate his victory over the enemy. The fortress is a hundred years younger than the nearby famous Round Castle, and 10 meters higher than it. Thus, the height of the Quadragonal Castle reaches 22 meters. The internal division of the fortress consists of 5 tiers connected by a spiral staircase.
The thickness of the lower part of the fortress is 2.1 meters, and the upper - 1.6 meters. The castle occupies a central position in the middle of a square spacious courtyard, enclosed by a 7-meter-high fortress wall - just as in the case of the Round Castle. The walls of the castle are quite smooth, lined with rough hewn stone. The tower is equipped with a large number of slit-shaped embrasures for defense, and is also crowned with hinged loopholes, machicules and teeth, which form a kind of crown of the tower.
High-quality construction and thickness of the defensive walls allowed the Quadragonal Castle to be well preserved to this day.