Castle Kyalami is a castle located in Kyalami in the province of Gauteng, north of Johannesburg, South Africa. Formerly a tourist attraction and hotel, the castle was purchased by the Church of Scientology in March 2008.BackgroundCastle Kyalami was built in 1992 by Greek millionaire and architect Demos Dinopoulos. Located in the northern Johannesburg suburb of Kyalami, the castle is set on a estate. The 64000sqft castle has an Arthurian style, and contains a spa, 24 suites, a luxury hotel, a restaurant, a conference centre and its own helipad.Dinopoulos lived in this expansive building for only nine years before putting it on auction. It was bought by Planet Hotels and opened as a 4-star hotel in 2001. Dinopoulos originally planned the castle to provide for his extended family, so that when his two daughters and son got married, they would live with their families in the castle. The original castle consisted of the main house, three self-contained apartments, garages, yacht workshop and horse stables, stretching over several acres. The main house has now been converted into 11 en-suite rooms, and the self-contained apartments now consist of 13 en-suite rooms.Room 11 was originally built for Dinopoulos' son, with a private entrance and a spiral staircase to the kitchen, because, in his father's words, "boys get hungry at night". The hotel's restaurant, The Bastion, was originally a sunken lounge with a full-size billiards table. The lounge was levelled and the room now accommodates 120 guests. What was originally the entertainment room of the Dinopoulos family has been converted into the wine cellar of the hotel. It now accommodates 20 people as an intimate dinner venue, with its own private entrance. The original sauna and jacuzzi in a turret have remained, alongside a swimming pool and clay tennis court. The 22-horse stables have been converted into a 500-person conference centre, with a state-of-the-art kitchen attached. The original garage and yacht workshop have been converted into The Bailey conference facility. Dinopoulos actually completed his yacht in the workshop, and sailed to the south of Spain, where he remains still, because his children grew up and left home.
