Old Galata Walls

The Galata Tower, constructed in 1348, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Istanbul today. The neighborhood, also named Galata, was once a Genoese colony, located just north of the junction of the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus. Allied with Sultan Mehmed II, the Genoese helped the Ottomans conquer Constantinople and defeat the Byzantine Empire, bringing an end to the Middle Ages.

Ever since antiquity, the Galata district had always been enclosed and protected by city walls known simply as the Galata Walls. It is believed that originally they were constructed in the 5th century, when it was under Byzantine reign, possibly by order of Emperor Justinian I.

The neighborhood became a Venetian quarter in 1204, and then a Genoese colony. It was outside Byzantine control, and although the emperor was against the idea, the Genoese surrounded their quarter with a moat and built castle-like houses to fortify it. Eventually, it became a defensive wall and was further reinforced in 1349.

After the Ottoman conquest in 1453, the walls were maintained until the 1870s, when a large portion of them was demolished to make space for the expansion of the city. Not much remains today, except for some fragments still standing in a few locations. The most notable remains are located near Atatürk Bridge.