Van

City, eastern Turkey. It lies on the eastern shore of Lake Van at an altitude of about 5,750 feet (1,750 m). The city lies in an oasis at the foot of a hill crowned by an ancient ruined citadel. A ruined stone building near the foot of the rocky spur bears cuneiform inscriptions dating from the 8th and 7th centuries BC, when Van was the chief centre of the Urartu Kingdom. After the fall of Nineveh