I visited this tWHS in Spring 2021 as a pleasant stopover between Van and Ani WHS. Its beautiful surroundings at the foothills of Mount Ararat and with lovely wild flowers everywhere in full bloom made it a worthwhile stop in such a remote part of Turkey, near Doğubeyazıt, close to the border with Iran and Armenia.

The palace's tall and ornate exterior facade already hints at the palace's "interior" beauty. Well, "interior" as in covered with a huge glass and metal roof since most of the palace's roof was lost due to an earthquake. The Ishak Pasha Palace construction was started by Kurdish chiefs from the Besyan tribe of Beyazıd Sanjak and it was completed in 1784 by the Kurdish sanjak chief Ishak Pasha. The Ishak Pasha Palace is one of the few examples of surviving historical palaces on the silk route and as such has potential OUV to become a WHS. Although it represents the Ottoman tradition, in actual fact it is rather a mixture of Anatolian, Iranian, Armenian and North Mesopotamian architectural tradition. The traditional model used in the construction of the royal palaces in the capital cities like Bursa, Edirne and Istanbul was taken as an example in the design of the Ishak Pasha Palace. Moreover, the Western influence in Ottoman architecture during the post-Classical period can also be observed. Apart from the palace, it is also possible to visit Urartian rock tombs discovered in 1830.

Although most of the different sections of the palace are empty, the splendid carvings of the portal in the interior courtyard and the harem (photo) are by far the highlights of this site.