Caucasus Front War History Museum

The museum is inside a fortification with a grim nickname. Kanlı Tabya, the Bloody Bastion, was built in 1803 under Selim III as one of 46 bastions defending Kars, and originally called Yeni Tabya, the New Bastion. In 1828, during a Russian night attack on Kars, every soldier in the bastion was killed, and the name stuck.

The bastions were part of a wider plan. From the 1730s the Ottoman state built defences to protect Kars against Russia to the east and Iran to the south. This one guarded the city's southern side and has survived with its architectural character intact.

After restoration by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, the display was designed as a set of scenes rather than cases of objects. Inside the bastion you see a recreated infirmary, an operating room, a pantry and a soldiers' ward, showing how people lived and were cared for while the front was active.