Galata Kulesi, İstanbul'un Galata semtinde bulunan ve şehrin en önemli sembollerinden biri olan 528 yılında inşa edilmiş bir kuledir. Kuleden İstanbul Boğazı, Haliç ve İstanbul, panoramik olarak izlenebilmektedir. Galata Kulesi dünyanın en eski kulelerinden biri olup, Bizans İmparatoru Anastasius tarafından 528 yılında Fener Kulesi olarak inşa ettirilmiştir. 1204 yılındaki IV. Haçlı Seferi'nde geniş çapta tahrip edilen kule, daha sonra 1348 yılında "İsa Kulesi" adıyla yığma taşlar kullanılarak Cenevizliler tarafından Galata surlarına ek olarak yeniden yapılmıştır. 1348 yılında yeniden yapıldığında kentin en büyük binası olmuştur. Galata kulesi 1445-1446 yılları arasında yükseltilmiştir. Kule Türklerin eline geçtikten sonra hemen her yüzyıl yenilenmiş ve tamir edilmiştir. 16. yüzyılda Kasımpaşa tersanelerinde çalıştırılan Hıristiyan savaş esirlerinin barınağı olarak kullanılmıştır. Sultan III. Murat'ın müsaadesiyle burada müneccim Takiyüddin tarafından bir rasathane kurulmuş, ancak bu rasathane 1579'da kapatılmıştır.
17. yüzyılın ilk yarısında IV. Murat döneminde Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi, Okmeydanı'nda rüzgarları kollayıp uçuş talimleri yaptıktan sonra, tahtadan yaptırdığı kartal kanatlarını sırtına takarak 1638 yılında Galata Kulesi'nden Üsküdar-Doğancılar'a uçmuştur. Bu uçuş Avrupa'da ilgi ile karşılanmış, İngiltere'de bu uçuşu gösteren gravürler yapılmıştır. 1717'den itibaren kule yangın gözleme kulesi olarak kullanılmıştır. Yangın, ahalinin duyabilmesi için büyük bir davul çalınarak haber verilmekteydi. III. Selim döneminde çıkan bir yangında kulenin büyük bölümü yanmıştır. Onarılan kule 1831 yılında başka bir yangında yine hasar görmüş ve onarılmıştır. 1875 yılında bir fırtınada külahı devrilmiştir. 1965'te başlanıp 1967'de bitirilen son onarımla da kulenin bugünkü görünümü sağlanmıştır.
The Galata Tower (Galata Kulesi in Turkish) — called Christea Turris (the Tower of Christ in Latin) by the Genoese — is a medieval stone tower in the Galata/Karaköy quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, just to the north of the Golden Horn's junction with the Bosphorus. One of the city's most striking landmarks, it is a high, cone-capped cylinder that dominates the skyline and offers a panoramic vista of Istanbul's historic peninsula and its environs.
The nine-story tower is 66.90 meters tall (62.59 m without the ornament on top, 51.65 m at the observation deck), and was the city's tallest structure when it was built. The elevation at ground level is 35 meters above sea-level. The tower has an external diameter of 16.45 meters at the base, an 8.95 meters diameter inside, and walls that are 3.75 meters thick.
There is a restaurant and café on its upper floors which command a magnificent view of Istanbul and the Bosphorus. Also located on the upper floors is a night club which hosts a Turkish show. There are two operating elevators that carry visitors from the lower level to the upper levels.
The tower was built as Christea Turris (Tower of Christ) in 1348 during an expansion of the Genoese colony in Constantinople.The Galata Tower was the tallest building in Istanbul at 219½ feet (66.9 m) when it was built in 1348. It was built to replace the old Tower of Galata, an original Byzantine tower named Megalos Pyrgos (English: Great Tower) which controlled the northern end of the massive sea chain that closed the entrance to the Golden Horn. That tower was on a different site and was largely destroyed in 1203, during the Fourth Crusade of 1202–1204.
The upper section of the tower with the conical cap was slightly modified in several restorations during the Ottoman period when it was used as an observation tower for spotting fires.
According to the Seyahatname of Ottoman historian and traveller Evliya Çelebi, in circa 1630-1632, Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi flew as an early intercontinental aviator using artificial wings for gliding from this tower over the Bosphorus to the slopes of Üsküdar on the Anatolian side, nearly six kilometres away. Evliyâ Çelebi also tells of Hezarfen's brother, Lagari Hasan Çelebi, performing the first flight with a rocket in a conical cage filled with gunpowder in 1633.
Starting from 1717 the Ottomans began to use the tower for spotting fires in the city. In 1794, during the reign of Sultan Selim III, the roof of the tower made of lead and wood, and the stairs were severely damaged by a fire. Another fire damaged the building in 1831, upon which a new restoration work took place.
In 1875, during a storm, the conic roof on the top of the building was destroyed[citation needed]. The tower remained without this conic roof for the rest of the Ottoman period. Many years later, in 1965-1967, during the Turkish Republic, the original conical cap was restored[citation needed]. During this final restoration in the 1960s, the wooden interior of the tower was replaced by a concrete structure and it was commercialized and opened to the public.
From the top of the tower, the first French panorama painter Pierre Prévost drew in 1818 his "Panorama de Constantinople" which was later exhibited in Paris in 1825.
Der Galataturm (türkisch Galata kulesi) liegt im Galata einem Teil des Istanbuler Stadtteil Beyoğlu. Der Name weist, ähnlich wie beispielsweise Gallien oder das iberische Galicien, auf die frühe Besiedlung durch Kelten (Gallier) hin. Ursprünglich war er ein Teil der unter den Genuesen errichteten Stadtbefestigung. Vielleicht hat er auch als Leuchtturm gedient.
Der Galataturm war das Nordende und die Hauptbastion der genuesischen Siedlung Galata und wurde 1348-49 als Christus-Turm errichtet. Nach der Eroberung Istanbuls durch die Osmanen im Jahre 1453 wurde der Turm teilweise zerstört, aber bald wiederhergestellt. Weitere Beschädigungen geschahen durch Erdbeben im Jahre 1509 und durch Brände in den Jahren 1794 und 1831. Im Jahre 1638 flog Hezarfen Ahmed Çelebi von ihm über den Bosporus.
Das Gebäude, das 48 m über dem Meeresspiegel liegt, misst bis zu seiner kegelförmigen Spitze 67 m und dominiert das Nordufer des Goldenen Hornes. Ab dem 16. Jahrhundert diente er als Wachturm, gegen Ende des Osmanischen Reichs als Feuerwache, eine Funktion, die er bis in die 1960er Jahre innehatte. Später wurde der Galataturm privatisiert, renoviert und für den Tourismus geöffnet.
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