Şile Castle

Şile Castle (Turkish: Şile Kalesi) or Ocaklı Ada Castle is a castle located on Ocaklı Island in the Şile district of Istanbul. It was criticized for its appearance after the restoration of 2015 because it looked like SpongeBob SquarePants.

There are two different claims about the history of the building, which was built as a watchtower. According to the claim accepted today, it was built 1000 years ago by the Genoese. According to another claim, it was built by the Eastern Roman Empire and later used by the Ottomans. The castle, which was taken over by the Genoese in 1305, was conquered by the Ottoman army under the command of Yıldırım Bayezid in 1396. The castle has been repaired at least twice throughout history.

Text adapted from “Şile Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Şile Castle ranks #4,573 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #64 of the 129 mapped in Turkey. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,110 times in the last 60 days, more than 51% of the atlas. The nearest day-trip guide is Istanbul, 58 km away. See how Turkey compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗