Story Of Maidens Tower

Gokce Nacar

Dec 17 600 read

Story Of Maidens Tower

Between myth and reality, the Girl's Tower (Kız Kulesi) shines on the coast of the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey. Many strange stories were associated with it, which kept it a mysterious mystery in the water show, and a special place that attracts thousands of tourists, and Turkish wedding parties. It is characterized by a balcony surrounding its summit with a unique view, which is further enchanted by the presence of seagulls that resound in the place and fly above and near it in large numbers. The unique tower consists of 6 floors with a height of 23 meters, connected by a spiral staircase through which you can move easily, to enjoy restaurants and cafes. The most famous tale about its construction is that there was a Sultan who loved his daughter very much, and he had a dream, which was that on her 18th birthday she would be bitten by a snake and take her life. As soon as he woke up, he removed his daughter from dry land to protect her. He blocked part of the Bosphorus and built a tower for her in the middle of the strait, to protect her from any snake.

The Sultan's daughter received a gift, which was a basket full of fruit, in which a snake was hiding, which infiltrated her and bit the girl and killed her. Because of her father's grief over her, the place was named "The Girl's Tower", so that visitors to the tower would remember the lesson from this story that there is no escape from God's judgment.

After that, the tower remained abandoned for many years, until it was used in 1110 as a station for ships coming across the Black Sea. During the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, it was used as a watchtower and remained so until an earthquake in 1509 destroyed large parts of it. After repair, it was used as a lighthouse until 1829, when it began to be used as a quarantine. In 1832 it was restored by Sultan Mahmud II, who added steel supports around it, as a precaution against earthquakes.

Currently, it has been turned into a tourist attraction that visitors can reach by boat in a journey that takes only 10 minutes.

Maiden Tower's Backstory

Because another mythology incorrectly portrays Hero and Leander in the tower, some people incorrectly refer to it as "Leander's Tower," a sorrowful love tale recounted by Ovidius: Hero was an Aphrodite priestess who lived in the tower. She left the tower one day to attend a religious ritual when she met Leandros and fell in love with him. Every night, Leandros swam to the tower to see his love, while she held a light to lead him across the murky waters to the tower. On a rainy night, though, Leandros couldn't see the light because the winds had blown it out, so he swam all night, losing his way until he perished. When Hero learned that her sweetheart had died, she plunged into the sea and drowned herself. Some people tell this love tale as though it occurred on the Bosphorus, but it's a Dardanelles mythology about Leandro's swimming to Hero between Abydos (now Eceabat) and Status. That’s the story of Maiden Tower in Istanbul.

The Ottoman Empire's Maiden Tower

Kizkulesi was built on a rocky outcropping near the mouth of the Bosphorus in the 5th century BC by the Athenian commander Alcibiades to keep an eye on the waterway. A cable was dragged from the ground to the tower, converting it into a checkpoint and customs area for passing ships. Emperor Alexius Comnenos erected a formidable fortification tower in the 12th century AD called Arcola, which means "Small Tower," after repeated repairs in wood and stone. Following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, the tower was utilized as a lighthouse and control tower. The final repair was completed in 1998, and the restaurant debuted in 1999 after a 3 million dollar investment.