Tece Castle () is a ruined castle in Mersin Province, southern Turkey.
Location The castle is in the Tece suburb of Mezitli which is a secondary municipality of Mersin. It is about from Mersin city center.
History There is no record about the origin of the castle. However, judging from the architecture, it was probably a late Roman or a Byzantine castle. It was a low elevation castle, and it was built to control the road running parallel to the Mediterranean Sea coast. It was also used by the Crusades and Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, during which the castle underwent renovation.
In June 1981 the American archaeologist and art historian Dr. Robert W. Edwards conducted a formal survey of this site and drew the following conclusions. The rectangular circuit wall and the fragments of its seven small towers were so badly decayed that it was impossible without a formal excavation to deduce the date of construction. However, the surviving portion of the three-storey estate house (keep) is primarily from one period of construction with masonry and architectural features identical to those used during the 12th and 13th centuries in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. It is similar to the nearby medieval site of Kız near the Durak railway station. These sites were built by Armenian masons, perhaps for Crusader occupants.
Architecture The area within the now ruined ramparts is . Most of the buildings are ruined. The only partially standing building is a three-story donjon. The length of the eastern wall is and its height is . The northern wall is long and high. The width of the outer wall is .Hasan Buyruk Kafkas University bulletin The masonry of the inner walls is of ashlar blocks and the outer walls of bossage blocks.Mersin Governorship: Mersin Ören Yerleri Kaleleri Müzeleri ("Mersin Ruins, castles and museums"), p.65 The 1981 survey was conducted under the auspices of the University of California at Berkeley.Carefully documented photographs and plan of Tece Castle
See also
List of Crusader castles
References