Galata Tower, Istanbul

The Galata Tower, called Christea Turris by the Genoese, is a medieval stone tower in the Galata/Karaköy quarter of Istanbul, Turkey. It is a high, cone-capped cylinder that dominates the skyline and offers a panoramic vista of Istanbul's historic peninsula and its environs. The nine-story tower is 62.59 m (205.3 ft) without the ornament on top, 51.65 m (169.5 ft) at the observation deck, and was the city's tallest structure when it was built. The tower replaces an earlier Galata Tower that was built in 528 during the Byzantine Empire. This tower was destroyed during the Crusades. Starting from 1717, the Ottomans began to use the tower for spotting fires in the city. In 1875, during a storm, the conical roof on the top of the building was destroyed. The tower remained without this conical roof for the rest of the Ottoman period. During this final restoration in the 1960s, the wooden interior of the tower was replaced by a concrete structure and it was commercialized and opened to the public. Galata Tower was included in World Heritage temporary list in Turkey by UNESCO in 2013.

#GalataTower
#Istanbul
#Turkey