Şebinkarahisar Castle

Overview

Şebinkarahisar Castle crowns a dark rock above the town, and a stepped road leads up to it. On the way to the top, you pass cisterns cut deep into the stone. Our Şebinkarahisar tour comes here from Giresun.

The Story of Şebinkarahisar Castle

No inscription records when the castle was built, and its first walls may be older than the Romans. Much of it was rebuilt under the Mengücek dynasty, and the Mengücek ruler Fahrettin Behramşah made major additions in 1184. The gate and the walls you see today are Seljuk and Ottoman. In the seventeenth century, Evliya Çelebi described about seventy houses inside, many cisterns, grain stores and the Küçük Fatih Mosque. Nothing survives of the inscription and the double-headed eagle relief over the gate, destroyed in 1896.

1915

Armenians in Şebinkarahisar gathered in the castle in June 1915, and Ottoman forces besieged it and took it in July. That year began the Armenian genocide of 1915–16, the Ottoman government’s destruction of its Armenian population. The castle was badly damaged in 1915.

Meryem Ana Monastery Nearby

Also, about 11 km (7 miles) east of the town, in Sarıyer village, the Meryem Ana Monastery sits in a large hollow in a steep rock face. It dates to the Byzantine period, but the ruins you see today come from a full renewal in the 19th century. The complex held 32 rooms with painted walls, a dormitory, a classroom, a dining hall and, at the top, a church cut into the rock. Then, on the second level, four student rooms of equal size stand side by side. In front, a cistern sits on the left and a cut-stone fountain on the right. After restoration in 2013 and 2014, the monastery opened to visitors as an archaeological site in 2014.

So pair the monastery with the castle on the same long day from Giresun, because both lie far inland. Then, back in town, look for the Atatürk House and the old stone inns, the Taşhanlar.

How to Visit Şebinkarahisar Castle

Şebinkarahisar is a long day from the coast, so stop at Kuzalan Waterfall and Kümbet Plateau on the way. No hours or fee are published, so ask us to confirm before you go. We plan the climb to Şebinkarahisar Castle on your Giresun route.

Would you like to see the Giresun highlands with someone who knows them? Our founder’s family lives in Giresun, so we plan the plateaus, the waterfalls and the castles with a local driver, and add a hazelnut harvest day in August. The castle and the Meryem Ana Monastery are a long drive inland, best as a tailor-made trip or an extra day on our Black Sea tour; our Giresun guide has the rest.