A 2,000-year-old castle built during the Roman Empire and, which up until Monday had stood the test of time, has been destroyed.
Set on a hilltop in southeastern Turkey, the Gaziantep Castle was constructed in the 2nd and 3rd centuries before becoming a museum.
But on Feb. 6, two 7-plus-magnitude earthquakes hit the region, killing more than 2,000 people in Turkey and Syria, with the death toll expected to climb.
Harrowing photos shows the aftermath of the quake, which display the castle in ruins, with many of its wall collapsed and shattered.
Debris had also been scattered onto the road.
Until the quake, the castle had served as the Gaziantep Defence and Heroism Panoramic Museum.
The museum, tucked into the walls of the castle, remembers the 1920 defense of the city against the French.
The castle played an important role during Turkey’s war of independence of the early 20th Century.
Unique for its irregular shape and 12 towers (it was surrounded by a moat at one point, too), the castle withstood multiple invasions, renovations and regime changes.
After the Ottoman Empire captured the castle in 1516, it lost its military significance, but held on to its status as an important historic site and tourist attraction in the centuries since.
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Seismologists have said the first earthquake was one of the largest ever recorded in Turkey.
