Muşalikalesi (Behramşah Castle)

Muşalikalesi Castle (also called Behramşah Castle) is a small fortification perched on a high hill overlooking Muşalikalesi village in Akdağmadeni district. It is believed to have belonged to Necmeddin Behramşah-ı Candar, an emir under Sultan Kayhusraw II (r. 1237–1246), successor to Alaeddin Kayqubad I, and to date from roughly the first half of the 13th century. The castle's tall walls are built of rubble stone faced with cut stone; inside, the stone courses are laid diagonally, brick-like, creating a zigzag wall texture. Three small, elongated rectangular towers project from the west and north outer walls. Much of the castle still stands and remains a worthwhile sight today. On the western slope below the hilltop castle, which commands views in every direction, stand two further mausoleums: the Ali Çelebi Mausoleum, closer to the castle, and the Mahmut Çelebi Mausoleum, further down the slope. Each contains a gravestone inside and out; their inscriptions suggest they were built between the Islamic years 871 (1466) and 875 (1471). Undecorated, the lower structure (Mahmut Çelebi Mausoleum) has a collapsed dome; its broken gravestone bears the text of Surah al-Ikhlas (Chapter 112 of the Qur'an). Records suggest this mausoleum — built for Mahmut Çelebi, son of the great emir Ali Çelebi — may date to the month of Recep in the Islamic year 882 (1477 CE); its burial chamber is now overgrown with juniper trees.