Historic castle in Istanbul turns into ‘SpongeBob’ after restoration

ISTANBUL

The restoration process of a historic castle in Istanbul’s Şile district has faced harsh criticism from Turkish social media users, with many likening the latest state of the castle to cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants.Frustrated social media users have reacted to the restoration after sharing the images of the finished castle and likened it to the famous US cartoon character, SpongeBob SquarePants, while some claimed that it looked like something out of video game Minecraft.One individual commented,“Amazing. They restored the Şile Castle and turned it into SpongeBob monument. I doff a hat to such aesthetic pleasure.”Another stated, “Restoration? You better not be involved! The 2000-year-old monument had turned into Minecraft Castle,” while someone else said, “I have been in restoration business for four years. This is the first time I witness a castle restoration that looks like SpongeBob.”The Şile Municipality, meanwhile, did not comment on the restoration process but it stated that the castle’s restoration was started in cooperation with Kocaeli University’s Faculty of Architecture and Design on its official website.