Bigali Castle

The construction of Bigali Castle was started during the III. Selim period. In 1807, the capital was tried to be threatened due to the diplomatic crisis that developed between the Ottoman Empire and England, and a British fleet under the command of Admiral Duckworth reached Istanbul by crossing the Dardanelles on February 19, 1807. This event has demonstrated the need to strengthen the existing defense system in the Bosphorus.

French military engineer Coutailout was assigned to the construction of the castle under the supervision of the Minister of the Bosphorus, Aziz Efendi. The castle was completed and put into service during the reign of Mahmud II. The castle is located by the sea 3 km. east of Bigali Village. It was built together with the Nara Castle, located on the Anatolian coast, on the basis of reciprocity, according to the method applied in the Bosphorus fortification. It is understood that Bigali Castle was first used as a bastion and when it was understood that the bastion did not meet the needs, it was given the qualification of a castle after 1815. Bigali Castle has a rectangular structure and measures 70x130 meters. There are two gates in the castle, the Western and Eastern gates. There is a cylindrical tower at each corner of the castle. There is a 1.5-meter-high cannon recoil along the seaside wall of the castle. There are cannon loopholes and ammunition located along the cannon recoil.

There are a barracks building, armory, ammunition warehouse, mosque, and fountain structures inside the castle. After the restoration of the Barracks Building, it gives the visitor an idea of the activities behind the front during the Battle of Çanakkale, with the animation of a gun repair shop as it was used in 1915. Mahmudiye Mosque, located in Bigali Castle, is a beautiful example of the mosque architecture of the period and offers our visitors the opportunity to perform their time prayers. The arsenal building, on the other hand, has been used as a shooting simulator where our visitors can play target games with Anzacs using a Mauser rifle.

Bigali Castle Esliha Repair-Shop                      

The Çanakkale Front was opened on February 19, 1915, and closed on January 9, 1916, when the Allies evacuated the Gallipoli Peninsula. In this process, Istanbul has formed the main supply point for the rest of the front-line activities of the ongoing battles. Shipments from here to the front were carried by sea and land. Back services at the front were carried out by the Menzil organization. One of the most important replenishment topics of the combat process is the maintenance and repair of combat vehicles. In the studies carried out in this context, repair shops were opened to the rear of the front for the repair of combat vehicles, with the concern of producing local solutions and gaining time. Here, Bigalı Castle Weapon Repair is one of the important centers that maintains and repairs the unique rifle of the soldier on the front with its activities behind the front.

Bigali Castle functioned as an Arms repair shop in 1915. The barracks building of Bigali Castle was used as a Weapons Repair Shop of the 3rd Corps for the Southern and Northern Groups. For this purpose, the official opening was made on Friday, July 16, 1915, at 18.00 pm, and nearly 90,000 rifles were repaired here during the battles. This shows that an average of 400 rifles are repaired per day at the Bigali Castle Weapons Repair Shop.

The castle, which was restored by the Çanakkale Wars Gallipoli Historical Site Directorate between 2017 and 2022, was opened to visitors on April 24, 2022. Bigali Castle takes you on a journey through the past two centuries; among the buildings that shed light on the period of Mahmud II, it offers the experience of a gun repair shop in Çanakkale in 1915.