High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Fortress of Van also known as Van Citadel is a massive stone fortification built by the ancient kingdom of Urartu, overlooking Tushpa, the Urartu Capital. It is the largest example of this kind of complex. A number of similar fortifications were built throughout the Urartian kingdom, usually cut into hillsides and outcrops in places where modern-day Armenia, Turkey and Iran meet. The lower parts of the wall were built out of unmortared basalt, while the rest was built from mud-bricks. Such fortresses were used for regional control, rather than as a defense against foreign armies. The ruins of this fortress sit outside the modern city of Van, where they support walls built in the medieval era.