Istanubl Travel Guide - Citadels ( Castles ) in Istanbul

Citadels ( Castles ) in Istanbul

The Lenght of the historicla walls rurounding Istanbul is 22 kilometters. There are 19 bastions on the land side walls.

The ramparts  surrounding Istanbul were built the first time in the 5th century and were renewed four times due to demolitions and re-buliding.

During the era of Theodosius II (408 - 450) the ramparts of Istanbul streched from S arayburnu to Ayvansaray along the Golden Horn to Yedikule along the Marmara from Yedikule to Topkapı and from Topkapı to Ayvansaray. The ramparts are a total of 22 km long on the Golden horn they are 5.5 km long. The ramparts are 7,5ml yohg oh yahr ahr 9 km long on the Marmara coastline. The land walls are composed of thre sections the moat, the external ramparts and the internal ramparts. The moats are today used as agriculture filds. With a projection of 10 meters from the rampart walls the towers have a square plan and are generally 25 meters high. They have windows, doors and vaults.

The doors stairs between internal ramparts and the external rampart are still visible. The internal ramparts and bastions are made of sandstone and bricks. The external walls however are mainly box walls or casemate walls. All these moats, bastions and external and internal ramparts are 70 meters wide. They include corridors and small holes. On the Marmara and Golden horn walls there are no moats or exernal ramparts. The width of these ramparts is 5 meters and the height is 15 meters. The bastions are 20 meters high. On the Marmara side there are 103 bastions and 94 on the Goldten horn sidte. Yedtikule, Sulukule Anemas İssakios, Mermerkule and aparkule are historically important. The most of them were used as dungeouns or prisons and some also served as mints .

Gates

There are primary and secondary gates long the ramparts of Istanbul. The gates are under a 5 meters wide arch in the walls. These gates had marble-coated internal sides and wooden external cases. There is distance of 25 meters between the external gate and the internal gate. There are 36 small and large gates connecting  the interior of city walhls to the outside.

The Golden Gate

The Golden Gate was used during the Byazntine era only for special ceremoies.

The Belgrade Gate

This gate in Yedikule is the second largest military gate and dates back to the 5th century. It was used for military exercises.

The Silver Gate

One of the country gates is today known as silivrikapı, During a restaration in 1987 a tomb was discovered. It consisted of two sections housing five tombs from earlier ages.

The Kalagru Gate

This was a small military gate between the pege and Rhesium gates used during the Byzantine era

The Mevlana Gate

During the last periods of the Byzantine Emnpire a Russian community that had settled in Eyüp in the 9th century was allowed to enter the city through this gate. Thus it was also known as the "Mevlevihane Gate" because a Mevlevihane was located in the neighborhood.

The Topkapı (Cannon Gate)

During the conquest Fatih Sultan Mehbet established his headquarters at this point and set up the largest cannons here and the cannons were fired at this point.

The Sulukule Gate

Since it is located above the lykos Brook, this was named Sulukule (the Water Tower). Following the conquest the gypsies settled in this area. They are now beeing there.

The Edirne Gate

It is said tha this was the first gate to be opened during teh conquest. The Byzantine emperor who went voyages and merchants from Rumelia and foreign ambassodors would enter the city through this gate.

The Eğri Kapı ( Crooked Gate )

It is said that artisans making shoes and boots for the army during the Byzantine era wer located in this area.

The Blakherai Gate

This was one of the civilian gate giving access to the Blakhernai Place and its surroundings. It includes four twers, built by order of Byzantine emperors and three other towers built by order of Fatih Sultan Mehmet.