No one really knows who first built Erbil’s citadel, but two things are (almost) certain: the imposing qalat (Kurdish for castle) is without a doubt the heart and soul of this bustling city and it has been continuously inhabited for 8000 years. Perched on a mound 32m above street level, it’s Erbil’s most precious historical asset, and in 2014 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.
In 2007 the citadel was partly closed for restoration and at the time of research its charming little alleyways and traditional courtyard houses were still shut off to the public. In order to carry out a major facelift, the Kurdish government compensated and relocated the families who lived in the citadel – only one family remains so as to not break the alleged 8000-year-old record. During it's heyday the citadel was split into three neighbourhoods, the Serai, the Takya and the Topkhana, for the prominent families, the dervishes (religious people) and the farmers respectively.
Today visitors can walk the main street from north to south. The citadel’s southern façade, which was reconstructed by Saddam’s administration, was recently renovated and the huge statue of 12th century Kurdish historian Mubarak Ahmad sharafaddin relocated to Minaret Park.
Inside the citadel a single main road cuts straight through the 102,000 sq metres of the tell, leading visitors from the northern entrance to the south gate, through which you can peer down onto Erbil’s main square and bazaar.
