Qualla: Sherwana Castle

Sherwana Castle: Introduction

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chealiadnan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Most Kurdish castles did not survive the twentieth century. The British, who occupied Mesopotamia after World War I, systematically destroyed the palaces and fortresses that had served as power bases for Kurdish leaders. Sherwana Castle, standing on the banks of the Shirwan River in the city of Kalar in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, was the exception. The Jaff family who built it had maintained good relations with the British, and so their fortress was spared. That diplomatic instinct -- knowing which empire to accommodate and when -- was the same quality that had allowed the Jaff to build the castle in the first place.

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Image: Chealiadnan | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sherwana Castle: A Pasha Builds His Stronghold

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ئاسۆ (Aso), CC BY-SA 3.0. Mohamed Pasha Jaff erected the fortress in 1866, positioning it on the riverbank to guard against a roster of enemies that included rival Kurdish tribes, Persian incursions, and restive factions within his own confederation. The Jaff were a nomadic Kurdish people whose caravans r...

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Image: ئاسۆ (Aso) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Sherwana Castle: Rivals, Russians, and the Great War

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Orientepop2012, CC BY-SA 3.0. The castle was more than a home; it was a statement. From its walls, Mohamed Pasha consolidated control over the Shahrizor, suppressing pro-Baban Jaff factions led by Aziz Beg Jaff and confronting the Hamavand tribe, rivals who resisted Ottoman authority and, according to the sou...

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Image: Orientepop2012 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Sherwana Castle: The Castle That Was Spared

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ئاسۆ, CC BY-SA 3.0. British occupation brought destruction to Kurdish heritage across Iraq. Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji's revolts in Sulaymaniyah in 1919 and again between 1922 and 1924, which drew in segments of the Jaff tribe, gave the British reason to demolish the fortifications that could shelter re...

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Image: ئاسۆ | CC BY-SA 3.0

Sherwana Castle: Damage and Defiance

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit jan kurdistani, CC BY-SA 2.0. The decades that followed tested the castle further. Military operations in the 1990s damaged the structure. Heavy rains in 2014 cracked the walls. In 2017, an earthquake -- the same seismic event that devastated communities across the Iran-Iraq border region -- destroyed thirty-...

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Image: jan kurdistani | CC BY-SA 2.0