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The castle of Amouda is a Crusader castle, formerly in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, and today in the Turkish Province of Osmaniye. The castle was deeded by the Armenian king Levon I to the Teutonic Knights in 1212 and rebuilt by them in the 13th century. It earned revenue for the Teutonic Order from the surrounding land. According to contemporary sources, the castle provided shelter for 2,200 people during the invasion by the Mamluks in 1266.
In 1987 an archaeological and historical assessment of the site, as well as a surveyed plan, were published. From atop the outcrop this castle has clear inter-visibility with at least five others forts. Based on an analysis of the masonry, there were at least three major periods of construction and/or repair, with the most prominent contribution from the Crusader occupation. Unlike Armenian designs, it has a simple rectangular plan dominated at the southwest by a four-story keep with cisterns in the lowest level.
References:Roman Walls of Lugo are an exceptional architectural, archaeological and constructive legacy of Roman engineering, dating from the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. The Walls are built of internal and external stone facings of slate with some granite, with a core filling of a conglomerate of slate slabs and worked stone pieces from Roman buildings, interlocked with lime mortar.
Their total length of 2117 m in the shape of an oblong rectangle occupies an area of 1.68 ha. Their height varies between 8 and 10 m, with a width of 4.2 m, reaching 7 m in some specific points. The walls still contain 85 external towers, 10 gates (five of which are original and five that were opened in modern times), four staircases and two ramps providing access to the walkway along the top of the walls, one of which is internal and the other external. Each tower contained access stairs leading from the intervallum to the wall walk of town wall, of which a total of 21 have been discovered to date.
The defences of Lugo are the most complete and best preserved example of Roman military architecture in the Western Roman Empire.
Despite the renovation work carried out, the walls conserve their original layout and the construction features associated with their defensive purpose, with walls, battlements, towers, fortifications, both modern and original gates and stairways, and a moat.
Since they were built, the walls have defined the layout and growth of the city, which was declared a Historical-Artistic Ensemble in 1973, forming a part of it and becoming an emblematic structure that can be freely accessed to walk along. The local inhabitants and visitors alike have used them as an area for enjoyment and as a part of urban life for centuries.
The fortifications were added to UNESCO"s World Heritage List in late 2000 and are a popular tourist attraction.