Dracula dungeon’s hidden tunnel to be expanded

TOKAT – Doğan News Agency

Works have been initiated again to further open a hidden tunnel, which was discovered during restoration work in the Tokat Castle, also known as the dungeon of Dracula. 

Restoration work at the castle, Turkey’s second-largest castle in the northern province of Tokat, started in 2009 by the Tokat Governor’s Office Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate, in order to open the castle to tourism. 

Restoration was completed in 2010 and last September, work began again to reinforce the defensive bastions of the castle that were used in the Seljuk and Ottoman periods. 

Over the course of the restoration, three archaeologists discovered a military shelter, two dungeons and a secret tunnel to the Pervane Bath in Tokat’s city center.

In one of these dungeons, it is claimed that Wallachian Prince Vlad III “The Impaler,” also known as Dracula, was held captive in one of the castle’s dungeons in the early 15th century.

Last year, nearly 80 meters of the tunnel were opened. Tokat Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Abdurrahman Akyüz said works recently restarted in the castle, and continued: 

“Everyone in the city is excited about the castle. It is very important to revive millennial history. This tunnel was built in the Byzantine era. We estimate that it was a waterway but it is really interesting. People should see this place. We will bring it to light so that more people will come to see Tokat. We have so far opened a part measuring 80 meters. We need to open 80 more meters.” 

He said the dungeon served as a prison for 300 years during the Ottoman times. “[The fact that Dracula stayed here] is a positive promotion for us and we want to display this fact here.”