Anadolu Hisari (Anatolian Fortress)

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A 14th century castle from the Ottoman’s first attempt to capture Istanbul, Anatolian Fortress is located on the Asian shore of the city at the narrowest point of the Bosphorus Strait. Sultan Yildirim Bayezit built this fortress in 1395 on the ruins of an old temple devoted to Zeus.

The fortress is much smaller (7.000 m2 – 1,7 acres) in size when comparing it with Rumelihisari on the European side of Istanbul. Its towers are about 25 meters (82 feet) high with 2-5 meters (7-16 feet) tickness. The fortress was also named “Güzelce Hisar” in some historical documents. Today, Anadolu Hisari is an open air museum but only outer walls can be visited, and the road passes just through it.

Rumelihisari (Rumeli Fortress)

Rumeli fortress was built by the sultan Mehmet the Conqueror in four months only and directly opposite to Anadoluhisari in 1452 in readiness for the final attack on Constantinople, which led to the downfall of the Byzantine Empire. The fortress is situated at the narrowest section of the Bosphorus Strait (about 600 meters – 1970 feet). It occupies an area of 60.000 m2 (16 acres), had 4 main and 1 smaller gate, and 3 large and 1 smaller tower.

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From a small mosque inside, only its minaret survived. Rumelihisar suffered from big earthquakes but was always restored, final restoration was done in 1953 and opened as a museum. Today, the fortress is open to the general public as an open-air museum and hosts many concerts and dramatic performances in its amphitheater usually during the summer season.

Yedikule Hisari (Seven Towers dungeons)

As its name says in Turkish, Yedikule is a seven towered fortress which was built next to the city wall near the Byzantine Imperial Gate (Golden Gate or Porta Aurea) during the reign of Sultan Fatih Mehmet to safeguard the treasury. Over the sultan Murat III’s reign, the treasury was relocated to the Topkapi Palace and Yedikule started to be used as a dungeon.

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The place of imprisonment of many foreign ambassadors and Ottoman statesman, in addition to a place of execution for some, the fortress was last used as a prison in 1831. It than became a dwelling for the lions of Topkapi Palace, and later a gunpowder manufacturing place. Today, the fortress is a museum which is also hosting open air concerts in the inner courtyard during the summer season.

Sehir Surlari (City Walls)

Since the times of old Byzantium, a fortified city wall starting from the Golden Horn surrounded the city and reached the Sea of Marmara. But the land walls that we see today in Istanbul were built throughout the Byzantine period. First, Theodosius started to build a city wall in the 5th century AD than it was enlarged in the 6th century during the reign of Justinian as a result of expansion of Constantinople. These walls were sufficiently strong to stop enemy sieges such as Arab and Persian attacks in the 7th and 8th centuries but it couldn’t stop the Ottoman army during the Conquest of  Constantinople in the 15th century.

Throughout the Ottoman period, the wall was useless because Istanbul was in the center of a huge Empire thus it was impossible for the enemy to capture all these lands until they could reach the city. Therefore the land walls were used as construction material and mostly destroyed due to the earthquakes. Today, some sections of the wall are being restored by the local municipality to remember its glorious times.

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The Byzantine wall was split into 3 sections: Marmara Sea walls, Golden Horn walls, and Land walls. The walls had over 300 big towers (20-25 meters – 65-82 feet high) for its defense and about 55 gates giving entry to the city; 19 of them were at the Sea wall, 25 at the Golden Horn wall, and 11 at the Land wall. The city wall was about 22 kilometers in total, 9-12 meters (30-40 feet) high with 2-5 meters (7-16 feet) of tickness. There was clearly a water canal in front of the land walls to stop any possible climb with ladders or digging a tunnel underneath.

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maidens tower, maiden tower, kiz kulesi, istanbul

Istanbul, Maiden’s Tower  ( Turkish: Kiz Kulesi ) is one of the attractions of Turkey’s most exciting. Built in 408 a. C. by Athenian general Alcibiades to control boat traffic in the Persian Bosphorus Strait, the Tower of the Virgin was later rebuilt as a fortress for the Byzantine emperor Alexius Comnenus in 1110 A.D.

Ottoman Turks also had a hand in maintaining this beautiful tower, rebuilding the restoration of the facade on several occasions over the years.

There are many myths and legends surrounding the Maiden’s Tower.
Once of the most popular legends is the daughter of a beloved Sultan, as was prophesied, would die of a snakebite on his eighteenth birthday. Wanting to protect her daughter from the prophecy, the sultan sent the princess to the Tower for safekeeping. All was well until his eighteenth birthday, when the Sultan took the princess a beautiful fruit basket to celebrate his birthday and the avoidance of prophecy. As the princess came to a bunch of grapes, a cobra, which had been hidden in the basket, bit his hand and she died in the arms of his father. It is said that this legend is like the Maiden’s Tower (Kiz Kulesi) got its name.

The Maiden’s Tower, which was used as a lighthouse for centuries, now houses a restaurant and a coffee shop are two of the premiere hotspots in Istanbul for a nice dinner. The coffee at the Tower of the Virgin is open to tourists booth from noon until nine o’clock and dinner at the restaurant is available only by reservation. With frequent live music, DJs, events, and the mandatory use of a boat to reach the tower, dining at the Tower of the Virgin is as romantic as it gets.

The Tower of the Virgin has been also been used in popular cinema and television, appearing most recently in the 2007 film “Hitman.” The Tower of the Virgin was also used as a hideout for Elektra villain in the James Bond film “The World is Not Enough” and appeared in “The Amazing Race” television program.

Full of history, intrigue, romance and culture, making your vacation to Turkey includes a visit to Istanbul Maiden’s Tower.

maidens tower, istanbul

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Also, listen to me:
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Maiden’s Tower is a tower located in a pile of rocks in an arrow shooting distance from the coast of Asia, at the point of intersection of Asia and Europe. One of the unique structures throughout the world on two continents.

This tower, which dates from 2500 years ago, had a history identical to the history of Istanbul, witnessing what the city has found. His story began in ancient times and there throughout the time of the Greeks of the Byzantine Empire, and from the Ottoman Empire until today.

The island, which first hosted a burial chamber in the Greek period, was used as a customs area with the additional construction built during the era of Byzantium. It had assumed several functions from one platform to show the defense of a castle, an exile area to a quarantine island. Its main function was to be a lighthouse, and through the centuries has guided people during the day and the boats passing by during the night, with her constant winking light. Kizkulesi past guides to the future, and above all, dreams.

This tower, recalled stories throughout centuries, opened its doors in 2500 years later, after the restoration carried out by Hamoğlu Holding. Several poems have been written several works of art have been painted, and thousands of photographs taken of this tower is a symbol of loneliness, love, remoteness, and various other things. Come and check out the small windows to meet the charming atmosphere of the Maiden’s Tower, which is 2500 years, however, the young at any age, and hear their real story …

DURING THE DAY:

Excluding Monday
A café serves on the Maiden’s Tower between 12.00 to 19.00 and will be open to local and foreign tourists. daily menus and menus for the cafeteria will be available.

NIGHT OF TRANSPORTATION

Excluding Monday
Maiden’s Tower served with your special menu for people of Istanbul, national and foreign tourists in the reserve. On Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights, “Group Leandros” formed especially for the Maiden’s Tower adds color to the night of the Maiden’s Tower, with unique and quality music ranging from the Romans, Byzantines, and times Ottoman, to the Republican period and modern times. On Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday night you can dine fun listening to the songs selected by the DJ. In the bar at the plant Panorama, you can see a 360 ° view of Istanbul, and his drink listening to romantic music.

THE MAIDEN'S TOWER, Kiz Kulesi, Leander's Tower, Istanbul, Turkey

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From another source:
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A small tower is on a small rocky island at the mouth of the Bosphorus, just off the Asian shore of Istanbul. Known locally as the Maiden’s Tower (Kiz Kulesi in Turkish), which has saved the Bosphorus, and illuminated the way for sailors for centuries. Currently, there are more modern methods of navigation, but the tower still intrigues visitors to Istanbul. Often there is confusion about the name of the tower. In ancient and medieval Byzantine Greek, was known as the Tower of Leander, for reasons that will become clear.

The Athenian general, Alcibiades, built the first tower on the island 2,500 years ago. His goal was to monitor the movement of Persian ships in the strait. A chain was strung across the Bosphorus from the tower to the opposite bank, a customs checkpoint for sending negotiating the narrow way. Much later, in 1110, the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus redesigned the tower and turned it into a fortress.

During the Ottoman Empire, the tower was modified several times, mostly in 1509 and 1763. Interestingly, during the cholera epidemic of 1830, was used to quarantine cholera patients to prevent the epidemic spreading in the city. Alterations to the last tower was carried out in 1998 and finally opened in 2000. You now have a restaurant on the ground floor and a cafe at the top with stunning views of the Bosphorus and Sultanahmet (old Istanbul) through the water. Before these reforms were completed, scenes from James Bond film “The World is Not Enough”, was filmed there.

There are two quite different legends about this mysterious tower, one of the Greeks and the other of Turkish origin, which are the cause of the confusion on their behalf. The Greek legend tells of two lovers, Hero (a virgin priestess of Aphrodite) and a young man called Leandro. They became lovers, but hero was banished to a tower to avoid finding themselves. Leandro, who lived on the opposite bank. used to swim through the water guided by the light of a lamp left burning Hero. In this way, the lovers continued to meet. One stormy night, the wind and rain extinguished the lamp, and the leader lost his way and drowned. When you find the shirt in the water the next day, Hero threw herself too, and were united in death. The only problem with the name of the tower after Leander, is that according to ancient Greek legends, who swam across the Hellespont to meet his love, and this is much further south, in the Dardanelles.

For the Turks, the tower will always be called (Kiz Kulesi) Maiden Tower. The legend speaks of a Byzantine Turkish sultan who had a beautiful daughter and loved. When an oracle prophesied that he would die of snakebite, which kept in the tower to protect it, and ordered all the snakes in the vicinity must be killed. Unfortunately, a cunning snake managed to get into a fruit basket that was given up to it. Died a poisonous bite in his eighteenth birthday, just as the prophet had described.

Today, the Maiden’s Tower is a popular place for romantic dinners, summer weddings, business dinners and other events. The 360-degree panoramic view from the top is impressive, even on a rainy day. Singers have sung about it, poets have written about it, artists have painted, and millions have photographed, but still the small tower on the Bosphorus is to love everyone who sees it.

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