Garipçe Castle

Garipçe Castle is a castle from the Ottoman period located on the Garipçe ridges in Istanbul.

It was commissioned during the reign of Sultan III Mustafa in the years 1757-1774. The castle, built on the rocks in a bay on the European side at the Black Sea entrance of the Bosphorus, which was called Lykion Limen (Port of the Lycians) in antiquity, is also supported by a watchtower. The watchtower was built around 1778 by the French military advisor François Baron de Tott. This person was probably also the architect of the castle.

The castle is made of rubble stone and brick, and along its walls there are small, cradle‑arched observation windows placed at regular intervals. The entrance is on the northwest side. The castle has a somewhat irregular rectangular plan.

The castle, which was used for a time by the Turkish Armed Forces, has had its collapsed sections rebuilt with reinforced concrete.