Why did they abandon the Burj Al Babas?

Burj Al Babas is an abandoned residential development located near Mudurnu, Turkey with 732 nearly identical houses, each designed to resemble a miniature chateau. The site, under development by the Sarot Group, was abandoned in 2019 after the developers filed for bankruptcy with a debt of $25 million.



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Burj Al Babas is an abandoned residential development located near Mudurnu, Turkey with 732 nearly identical houses, each designed to resemble a miniature chateau. The site, under development by the Sarot Group, was abandoned in 2019 after the developers filed for bankruptcy with a debt of $25 million.

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Turkey's economy then struggled in the years after the project started, and developers soon incurred a $27 million debt. A combination of bad choices and bad timing, construction was halted.

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The Burj Al Babas is an abandoned ghost town in Turkey filled with Disney-like castles. Construction of the luxury community began in 2014. When Turkey's economy fell, the project halted. Today, 587 castles remain empty, and tourists often visit to see the eerie ghost town in real life.

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It's a fairy tale ghost town, an ambitious, luxurious development project that fell victim to mismanagement and global financial currents. Burj Al Babas, as the place is known, is located a few miles from the historic town of Mudurnu, once at the crossroads of the Silk Road and the Crimean Road.

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Burj Al Babas is a housing development project owned by Istanbul construction entrepreneurs The Yerdelen brothers. The project involved the construction of 732 three-story luxury villas, all very similar to each other and characterised by elements of Gothic, English and American architecture.

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They opted for an Arabic name for the project – 'Burj' means 'tower' or 'turret' in the language, while 'Al Babas' refers to a renowned spa in the region.

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Time and weather, war and looting, dwindling family fortunes, split inheritances and rising maintenance costs have left the countryside with thousands of eye-popping but decrepit monuments that are beyond the budgets of all but the most fabulously wealthy to maintain.

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Browse the gallery below to see some of the most beautiful abandoned castles in the world, including Ballycarbery Castle in Ireland, Caudilla Castle in Spain and Kilchurn Castle in Scotland.

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