Hereke Castle

Hereke Castle, located in the Körfez district of Kocaeli, is a castle that is estimated to have been built in the 640s during the Roman Empire period.

History

During the conquest of İzmit, those who fled from İzmit took refuge in Hereke Castle, and upon learning the situation, Orhan Gazi appointed Ali Bey as the commander-in-chief and Ali Bey captured the castle. In 1326, Hereke Castle was attached to the Ottoman Beylik.

Hereke suffered a great earthquake during the reign of Sultan II. Bayezid and after the earthquake that lasted 45 days the castle completely disappeared. The restoration of the castle, which has a history of 1400 years and is also mentioned in Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname, was started in 2017. The restoration of the castle was completed in 2023.

Key facts

Type: castle, fortress
Located in: Marmara Region

Facts from Wikidata.

Coordinates: 40.784240, 29.612868Open in Google Maps

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Sources

The text on this page is translated from: Hereke Kalesi (tr.wikipedia.org), as of 8 March 2026

Text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.