Editing Urfa (section)

===The citadel===
[[Şanlıurfa Castle|Urfa castle]] is located on the rocky heights south of the historical city center.<ref name="Tonghini 2021"/>{{rp|3}} It is long and thin because it crowns a ridge.<ref name="Sinclair 1990"/>{{rp|8}}

The hilltop was the site of an Abgarid winter palace built in the 3rd century; the two columns are the only remnant of this palace.<ref name="Tonghini 2021"/>{{rp|11}} The first known fortification of the site dates from the early 6th century, under the emperor Justinian.<ref name="Tonghini 2021"/>{{rp|11}} Fortifications may have existed here previously, but if they did then they went unrecorded.<ref name="Tonghini 2021"/>{{rp|11}}

The fortress was generally well-maintained during the middle ages, and it withstood a number of attacks.<ref name="Tonghini 2021"/>{{rp|11–2}} It was destroyed on the orders of the Ayyubid sultan [[al-Kamil]] around 1235.<ref name="Tonghini 2021"/>{{rp|12}} In the early 1300s, it was rebuilt under the Mamluk sultan [[an-Nasir Muhammad]].<ref name="Tonghini 2021"/>{{rp|12}} It was further renovated under the Aq Qoyunlu in the 1400s, and then again under the Ottomans at various points: under [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] in the 1500s and then under [[Murad IV]] in the early 1600s.<ref name="Tonghini 2021"/>{{rp|12}}

Urfa's castle was garrisoned with [[janissary|janissaries]] until [[Auspicious Incident|their dissolution in 1826]].<ref name="Tonghini 2021"/>{{rp|70}} It was already in serious disrepair by that point, though; only the part where the janissaries were posted was maintained at all.<ref name="Tonghini 2021"/>{{rp|71}} Afterwards, the citadel was essentially abandoned.<ref name="Tonghini 2021"/>{{rp|71}} In 1849, a local citizen named Sakıp Efendi dismantled part of the citadel and used the stones to build an inn and market; he also allegedly took a lot of stones to sell for money.<ref name="Tonghini 2021"/>{{rp|71}}