Istanbul - Fire-towers/ lighthouses

Fire-towers/ lighthouses

Fire-towers/ lighthouses

Besides the clock towers there is another type of towers which became well-known for the Ottoman architectural style- lighthouses/ fire towers. One of the most popular is the Beyazit Tower. It is located in Beyazit and has a height of 85 meters.

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Ironically the originally Tower was made of wood and destroyed by a serious fire. It had been restored , however survived only some years and again was burned town during the janissary revolution in 1826. Mahmut II ordered the restoration of the tower and implementation of a concrete construction. 256 wooden steps lead to the top plateform of the Beyazit Tower. Nowadays, the tower is also used as a meteorological station, a green light indicated rain, a blue one sunshine. A legend says that the firefighters watching out from the tower for fire used to say:"Congratulations, you're a father!" when they discovered a fire. "It is a girl" meant that the fire was on the other side of the Golden Horn. "It is a boy" implied a fire in one of the western other districts.

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Additionally from 04.45 and 06.00, when the Ataturk and Galata bridges are closed, the Beyazit Tower lighting is used to guide the ships crossing the Golden Horn. Until 1972, the Beyazit tower was open to the public, now its closed cause to security reasons as the stairs proved to be unsafe.

Fire-towers/ lighthouses by istanbul turkey.co.uk