Where is the Maiden Tower? Maiden Tower History

The Maiden's Tower is located in the Bosphorus. The Maiden's Tower, located in Salacak, Üsküdar, is the only work left from the Byzantine period in Üsküdar. The Maiden's Tower is among the most sought after of the day. The Maiden Tower, which is one of the symbols of Istanbul, dates back to 2 years. The Maiden Tower, which has a unique structure, is used as a cafe during the day and a private restaurant in the evening. So where's the Maiden Tower? Here is the history of the Maiden Tower… This unique building, which dates back to 500 years ago, lived a history equivalent to the history of Istanbul and witnessed what this city experienced. With its history that started in ancient times, it has survived from Ancient Greece to Byzantine Empire, from Byzantine to Ottoman, existed in all historical periods.

B.C. Kızkulesi History

According to the researcher Evripidis, a Greek from Istanbul, the land piece, previously a protrusion of the Asian coast, has been detached from the coast over time and the islet on which the Kızkulesi was formed. For the first time from the rocky on which the Kızkulesi is located, BC. It is mentioned in 410. On this date, the Athenian commander Alkibiades built a tower on this small island to control the ships entering and leaving the Bosphorus and to collect taxes. From Sarayburnu's location, the chain is stretched to the island where the tower is located, and the tower thus becomes a customs station controlling the entrances and exits of the Bosphorus. Years after that, BC. In 341, Greek Commander Chares built a monumental tomb on marble columns for his wife on the islet where the tower is located.

Roman period

By the AD 1110s, the first distinctive structure (tower) on this small islet was built by Emperor Manuel Comnenos. Emperor Manuel, who reigned between 1143 and 1178, built two towers to help defend the city. Emperor Manuel, who built one of them near the Mangana Monastery (the beach of Topkapı Palace) and the other to the location of the Kızkulesi, tied a chain between the two towers in order not to put enemy ships in the Bosphorus and prevent the passage of merchant ships without tax.

Byzantine Period

The Maiden's Tower, which was previously ruined and repaired, was used as a base by the Venetians during the conquest of Istanbul. A fleet coming from Venice under the command of Gabriel Treviziano to help Byzantine while Fatih Sultan Mehmet was surrounding Istanbul was based here.

Ottoman Period

After the conquest, Fatih Sultan Mehmet demolished this small castle and built a small goalkeeper, made of stone, surrounded by battlements and placed balls here. These cannons put in the fortress were an effective weapon for the ships in the port. However, the tower was used as a demonstration platform rather than a defense fortress during the Ottoman era, and the Mehter read the nevbet (a kind of National Anthem) with the gunshots here. The foundations of the tower we see today and the important parts of the lower floor are the Fatih period structure. It is known that the Kızkulesi was repaired or reconstructed during the Ottoman period. In the earthquake that occurred in 1510 and referred to as “small apocalypse”, the Kızkulesi, like many buildings in Istanbul, was damaged, and the repair of the tower was carried out in the period of Yavuz Sultan Selim. As the surroundings are shallow, a lantern was placed in the tower after the 17th century. Since then, the tower started to serve as a lighthouse, not a fortress anymore. The balls in the tower were also thrown in this period for salutation, not for protection anymore. Şehzade Selim, who came to Istanbul to pass the throne after the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, was greeted with balls thrown from the Kızkulesi while passing through Üsküdar. After that, this greeting was made for every sultan who took the throne for a long time and the throne of the sultan was announced to the public by gunshots.

In 1719, with the fire that caused the oil lamp to ignite the surroundings, the tower, which was completely wooden, was burned down and in 1725, the city's chief architect, Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha, underwent a comprehensive repair. After this repair, the tower was restored with lead domes and lantern section with masonry and glass. Then, in 1731, the tower lighthouse and cannon battlements and other places were repaired. Kızkulesi started to be used as a defense fortress when the Ottoman Empire entered the collapse period. Ball shots previously made for entertainments and celebrations are now made for defense purposes. The tower, in 1830-1831, turns into a quarantine hospital so that the cholera epidemic does not spread to the city. Later, during the plague epidemic, which occurred in 1836-1837 and 20-30 thousand people died, some of the patients were isolated in the hospital established here.

The spread of the epidemic was prevented with the quarantine applied in this hospital established in Kızkulesi. The last major repair of the Kızkulesi during the Ottoman period II. It was built during the reign of Mahmud. After the renovation in 1832-33, which gave the present shape of the Tower, Sultan II. An inscription bearing the monogram of Mahmut is placed. In this restoration made in the style of Ottoman-baroque architecture, the tower pole is added to the tower and the flag pole rising over the dome. A new lighthouse was built in 1857 by a French company.

Republican Period

During the Second World War, a renovation work is carried out in Kızkulesi. Decaying wooden parts of the tower are repaired and some parts of it are demolished and turned into reinforced concrete. The tower, which underwent a major repair again in 1943, was placed around the tower to prevent it from sliding into the sea. In the meantime, the warehouse and gas tanks in the quay around the rock on which the tower is located were removed. The outer walls of the building were preserved and the interior was renewed as reinforced concrete. The Kızkulesi was transferred to the Military in 1959 and used as a radar station affiliated to the Naval Forces Command, which controls the sea and air traffic of the Bosphorus. The cistern in the building, which is the "Navy Facility Mine Surveillance and Radar Station", was closed with concrete pouring during the renovations in 1965. After 1983, the tower was left to Maritime Enterprises and was used as an intermediate station until 1992.

Today's Kızkulesi…

The Tower, which was known as Arkla (small castle) and Damialis (calf calf) in Antiquity, became famous with the name “Tour de Leandros” (Leandros' tower), and today it is integrated with the name Maiden's Tower. In 1995, the restoration process of Kızkulesi begins. This special place, which has a mysterious history for thousands of years, opens its doors to visitors in 2000 after the restoration work completed by adhering to its unique identity and traditional architecture. Today, the Kızkulesi, which serves local and foreign visitors as a cafe-restaurant during the day and as a private restaurant in the evening, also hosts many special invitations and organizations such as weddings, meetings, launches and business meals.