<![CDATA[Wallachian Prince Vladd III the Impaler, or as most people know him, Count Dracula, is said to have been held captive in the Tokat Castle dungeon in Turkey during the fifteenth century. It will soon be possible to view this dungeon online, as a part of a project to digitally as well as physically restore the castle. Tokat Culture and Tourism Director, Abdurrahmam Akyuz, stated that, "After media reports about the dungeons, many people came to see the castle," apparently, this was when members of the public began asking officials for visuals and information about the castle, "We set up a camera system here. Especially [near] the dungeons where Count Dracula was kept [we] will be monitoring. The cameras will be available for 15 days all around the world through the internet," he said. The Governor's Office of Tokat and the Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate began restoring the castle, which is located in the northern region of Turkey, in 2009. Their goal was to eventually open it for public tourism. Just three and a half months ago the team began the second stage of restoration. The first stage was completed in 2010. According to Abdurrahman Akyuz, a railway system has been setup for the removal of stones and earth in the entrance of the castle's tunnel. He stated, "The castle served as a prison in the Ottoman era, and many famous figures were kept here," he also stated he believed Dracula was most definitely one of those famous figures, before concluding, "The castle has great potential for tourism. Such a steep castle is very rare in any city centre in Turkey." During the restoration process, the archaeologists who were working on the site reinforced the bastions of the castle while excavations took place around the fortress. That's when they spotted the secret tunnels and two dungeons in the castle. From this they concluded that Count Dracula had been imprisoned there. There is of course much debate about whether or not Count Dracula was actually imprisoned in one of those dungeons. Prince Vladd III the Impaler lived from 1431-1476, and many historians believe that he actually spent his captivity elsewhere. They argue that he was kept at the Oratea Fortress located in southern central Romania. The exact amount of time the Count spent imprisoned, whether in Romania or in the Tokat hidden dungeons, is still debated amongst historians to this day. This makes it difficult to say for sure if he ever was in the castle at Tokat. Image courtesy of Wikimedia commons user: Jpereira]]>
Dracula's Dungeon To Be Opened For Online Tourists
