Kafkaz Cephesi Harp Tarihi Müzesi

Kars

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This new museum specialising in early 20th-century history is hosted in the heavy arches of an 1803 bastion, a surviving fragment of vast ramparts that formerly enclosed the city. The most striking display is a recreated WWI-era field hospital with eerily lifelike waxworks.

The Halıtpaşa microbus from Eski Otogar passes very close to the site: from the nearest stop, walk up a curl of dead-end lane. Note that the museum is incorrectly marked on most online maps.

Outside, notice the railway carriage. It was presented to Kazım Karabekir, the Turkish general who took Kars from the Armenians in 1920, and dedicated on the occasion of his signing the 1921 Treaty of Kars between Turkey and Soviet representatives from Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Ani

    Ani

    25.64 MILES

    The ruins of Ani, 45km east of Kars, are an absolute must-see. Visitors enter through gigantic fortress walls that look like they fell off a crusader…

  • Tigran Honents Church

    Tigran Honents Church

    26.05 MILES

    Appealingly sited overlooking a stretch of river gorge, this 13th-century church appears relatively intact, though the current main door is within what…

  • Kars Castle

    Kars Castle

    1.53 MILES

    Dating from at least 1153, Kars Castle' s hefty, dark-stone walls crown the craggy ridge that dominates the city-centre's northern edge, fronted by a…

  • Ani Cathedral

    Ani Cathedral

    25.75 MILES

    Completed in 1010, the grassy-roofed cathedral is the largest building among the Ani ruins. The building's elegantly finished stone walls are relatively…

  • Manuçehr Camii

    Manuçehr Camii

    25.62 MILES

    Ani's 1072 Manuçehr Camii was built by the Seljuk Turks, using Armenian architects and artisans, creating a stylistic blend in what is considered to have…

  • 'Underground City'

    'Underground City'

    25.23 MILES

    The cliffs and valleys all around the Ani plateau are riddled with hundreds of caves that guides have collectively dubbed Ani's 'Underground City'. Mostly…

  • İç Kale

    İç Kale

    25.51 MILES

    Covering the large rocky eminence at the southern point of the Ani plateau, İç Kale is a jumble of tumbled stone, with faint vestiges of ancient palaces…

  • Keçivan Castle

    Keçivan Castle

    24.99 MILES

    Sturdy stone ruins of this 9th-century citadel straddle a ridge between two canyons forming a de facto city gate at the western entrance of Tunçkaya, now…

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Nearby Kars attractions

1. Fethiye Camii

0.66 MILES

This active mosque started life as a 19th-century Russian church, but now sports twin minarets instead of its original onion domes. It's a curious if…

2. Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Paşa Kultur Evi

0.9 MILES

One of Kars' most attractive old homes hosts a beautifully presented but all-in-Turkish introduction to Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Paşa, a flamboyantly…

3. Revenue Office

0.97 MILES

A three-storey late 19th-century L-shaped building with a long, false-columned facade, this is one of the more impressive pieces of Kars' 'Baltic…

4. Old Governor's Mansion

1 MILES

Facing a pretty little garden surrounded by further century-old buildings, this proud 1883 mansion was where the 1921 Treaty of Kars was signed, settling…

5. Health Directorate Building

1.08 MILES

On this 1907 building, thick paint somewhat mars the facade of floral motifs and mock columns built in typical Kars' Baltic (ie northern Russian) style.

6. Kars Culture & Art Association

1.19 MILES

The address is an unpromising paint shop ('Yeni Akçay Kol. Şir.'). However, if you can find him in, the shop's owner is local historian Vedat Akçayöz who…

7. Evliya Camii

1.34 MILES

With an especially attractive north facade, the 16th-century 'Mosque of Saints' was built to commemmorate the 11th-century saint Hasan-i Harakani who…

8. Kümbet Camii

1.38 MILES

Below Kars Castle, the imposing, basalt Kümbet Camii was built as a church between 932 and 937 when Kars was (briefly) capital of the Bagratuni kingdom of…