Lake Nemrut the world. Nemrut Caldera is world's second largest one. The western half of the crater is covered by the lake. AT the summit, there are five lakes, two of them existing permanently and the others seasonal. The biggest of the lakes is Lake Nemrut in the form of crescent. It contains freshwater of colorless, odorless and drink water quality. Lake Nemrut is situated at an elevation of about above main sea level. It has an area of , and its average depth is about with a maximum depth of . Nemrut Caldera is on the youngest volcanic cone in Turkey,
Urartu local residents began to plunder the Toprakkale ruins, selling its artefacts to European collections. In the 1880s this site underwent a poorly executed excavation organised by Hormuzd Rassam on behalf of the British Museum. Almost nothing was properly documented. The first systematic collection of Urartian inscriptions, and thus the beginning of Urartology as a specialized field dates to the 1870s, with the campaign of Sir Archibald Henry Sayce. The German engineer Karl Sester, discoverer of Mount Nemrut, collected more inscriptions in 1890/1. Waldemar Belck visited the area in 1891, discovering the Rusa stele. A further expedition planned for 1893 was