Kilitbahir Castle Museum

Kilitbahir Castle and Çimenlik Castle on the opposite shore were built by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror to control shipping through the Dardanelles, after the conquest of Istanbul. The Ottoman chronicler Tursun Bey wrote that two facing castles were raised at the strait's narrowest point and armed with cannon, one of them named Kilîdülbahr, the Key of the Sea.

Today the castle is a museum of Ottoman castle life. The Yellow Tower and the outer walls were added in Suleiman the Magnificent's reign, and an inscription dates the tower to 1541. The Late Period Courtyard was a forward defence area, and the Piri Reis section honours the famous navigator who served here, with the tools of navigation and his world map compared with a modern one.

The highlight is the Inner Tower, a 27-metre, seven-floor structure on a triangular plan, the last strongpoint of the defence. Its floors cover the castle's history, defence, food and drink, trade, worship and archaeological finds. The tower was damaged in 1915 and later restored, with its wooden floors rebuilt in 2012.