Brief History

Galata Tower is located in Beyoğlu Şişhane town on the European side of Istanbul. Its imposing body is visible from Eminönü, Karaköy, Kadıköy and Üsküdar.

Galata Tower is one of the oldest towers in the world, built as a lighthouse by the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius in 528. The Genoese rebuilt the present tower in 1349. The tower, which has been used for many different purposes throughout its history served as an observatory during the Sultan III Murat period. Galata Tower regains its present appearance with the last repair completed in 1967. After this short historical information, we can go on a journey to the Galata Tower with your tactile perception and audio description.

Galata Tower is a cylindrical structure with a height of 67 meters and a diameter of 16.5 meters. It can be said that when a human tower is created with 40 people who are 1 meter 70 centimetres tall, the top person can touch the top of the tower. Again, when 30 people with a height of 1 meter 70 centimetres form a circle holding hands, they can create a circle surrounding the tower. The thickness of its walls is 3.75 meters at the base and 20 cm on the top floor.

After this general information, you can touch the body of the model with both hands in order to perceive the cylindrical structure of the tower. The texture under your fingers represents the tower's walls made of untreated rubble.

To describe the tower starting from the entrance; The first section you will touch is the rectangular entrance door, which is entered into the tower with a high entrance. The tower has nine floors after the entrance. When you move your hand upwards on the wall of the tower, starting from the floor, you reach the floor where the windows of the tower are. This floor is the 7th floor of the tower. There are 14 windows on each of the 7th and 8th floors. All the windows of the building have a round arched character.

Keep moving your hand upwards and you will reach the ninth floor of the tower. The tower, which goes straight up to the ninth floor, has a projection, a bay window on the outer wall of this floor, and after the projection there are large windows placed inside the round arched columns. This floor is used as a restaurant today. On the ninth floor, there is a balcony that is used as a viewing terrace and surrounds the tower.

As you continue your tactile exploration upwards from the viewing deck, you will reach the roof of the tower after the 1.5-meter-wide ledge in the part where the roof connects to the tower. The roof is made of concrete and in the form of a cone. There is a lead coating on the concrete. When continuing towards the tapering upper part of the roof, the skylights on all four sides can be touched. These skylights are located outside the roof floor due to the upward tapering of the roof. At the top of the roof, there is a pole that functions as a lightning rod today.