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THE GALATA TOWER

THE GALATA TOWER. History.

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THE GALATA TOWER

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  1. THE GALATA TOWER

  2. History • The Galata Tower (Galata Kulesi in Turkish) — calledChristeaTurris (theTower of Christ in Latin) bytheGenoese — is a medievalstonetower in the Galata/Karaköy quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, justtothenorth of the Golden Horn. One of thecity'smoststrikinglandmarks, it is a high, cone-cappedcylinderthatdominatestheskylineandoffers a panoramicvista of OldIstanbulanditsenvirons.

  3. SIZE • The nine-storytower is 66.90 meterstall (62.59 m withouttheornament on top, 51.65 m at theobservationdeck), andwasthecity'stalleststructurewhen it wasbuilt. Theelevation at groundlevel is 35 metersabovesea-level. Thetower has an externaldiameter of 16.45 meters at thebase, an 8.95 metersdiameter inside, andwallsthatare 3.75 metersthick.

  4. FACILITIES • There is a restaurantandcafé on itsupperfloorswhichcommand a magnificentview of IstanbulandtheBosphorus. Alsolocated on theupperfloors is a nightclubwhichhosts a Turkishshow. Therearetwooperatingelevatorsthatcarryvisitorsfromthelowerleveltotheupperlevels. Thetowerwasbuilt as ChristeaTurris (Tower of Christ) in 1348 during an expansion of theGenoesecolony in Constantinople.The Galata Towerwasthetallestbuilding in Istanbul at 219½ feet (66.9 m) when it wasbuilt in 1348. Itwasbuilttoreplacetheoriginaltowerthatwasdestroyed, Galata Tower (old). Itwastheapex of thefortificationssurroundingtheGenoesecitadel of Galata. Thecurrenttowershould not be confusedwiththeoldTower of Galata, an originalByzantinetowernamedMegalosPyrgos (English: GreatTower) whichcontrolledthenorthernend of themassiveseachainthatclosedtheentrancetothe Golden Horn. Thattowerwas on a different site andwaslargelydestroyed in 1203, duringtheFourthCrusade of 1202–1204.

  5. TheArchitecture • Theuppersection of thetowerwiththeconicalcapwasslightlymodified in severalrestorationsduringtheOttomanperiodwhen it wasused as an observationtowerforspottingfires. • AccordingtotheSeyahatname of Ottomanhistorianandtraveller Evliya Çelebi, in circa 1630-1632, Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi flew as an earlyintercontinentalaviatorusingartificialwingsforglidingfromthistowerovertheBosphorustotheslopes of Üsküdar on theAnatolianside, nearlysixkilometresaway. Evliyâ Çelebi alsotells of Hezarfen'sbrother, Lagari Hasan Çelebi, performingthefirstflightwith a rocket in a conicalcagefilledwithgunpowder in 1633.

  6. Startingfrom 1717 theOttomansbegantousethetowerforspottingfires in thecity. In 1794, duringthereign of Sultan Selim III, theroof of thetowermade of leadandwood, andthestairswereseverelydamagedby a fire. Another fire damagedthebuilding in 1831, uponwhich a newrestorationworktookplace. • In 1875, during a storm, theconicroof on the top of thebuildingwasdestroyed. Thetowerremainedwithoutthisconicroofforthe rest of theOttomanperiod. Manyyearslater, in 1965-1967, duringtheTurkishRepublic, theoriginalconicalcapwasrestored. Duringthis final restoration in the 1960s, thewoodeninterior of thetowerwasreplacedby a concretestructureand it wascommercializedandopenedtothepublic.

  7. SomepicturesfromourtriptoThe Galata Tower

  8. Wearesearchingforourcommonroots

  9. A viewof The Galata Towerfrom Eminönü

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