A shared legacy of Byzantium and the Ottomans! The first spire of Yedikule Fortress has been installed

The comprehensive restoration work initiated by Fatih Municipality at Yedikule Fortress in 2020 continues without slowing down.

It is indicated in visual and historical sources that the towers forming Yedikule Fortress, one of the rare examples from the Byzantine Empire and Ottoman Empire periods, originally had conical roofs.

The conical roofs of Yedikule are also visible in all depictions of Istanbul drawn by hand by Ottoman travelers in the 16th century. It is also stated in engravings made by Western artists, who described Yedikule over the centuries, that the towers were covered with conical roofs.

As a result of meticulous research by Fatih Municipality, it was determined that the roofs that were on the towers in the first half of the 19th century had completely disappeared.

The first of the conical roofs of Yedikule Fortress, which were among the pieces lost after adorning the Istanbul skyline for centuries, was installed on the entrance tower following its manufacturing in line with the project approved by the Conservation Board.

An element missing from Istanbul, the city of minarets and domes, has been replaced.

It was learned that the finial (alem) of the roof will be installed in the coming days after the gold leafing process is completed. The first roof installed on Yedikule Fortress was captured from the air.

Speaking about the roof installed on Yedikule Fortress, Fatih Mayor M. Ergün Turan said, “Until the last 5 years, Yedikule Fortress had been closed for 15 years. We requested the allocation of this area from the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization. We established a scientific committee here starting in 2020. We began restorations in line with projects approved by the Conservation Board. While restorations continue at Yedikule Fortress, which has not been in the city's memory for a long time, it is also being visited by domestic and foreign tourists. It has become a very important culture and arts space for Istanbul. There are towers on Yedikule Fortress in historical engravings and documents. We wanted to reconstruct the skyline of this city. We completed the first of the towers seen in the engravings by placing it over the entrance gate. Restoration is a matter of process. Hopefully, we will complete one or two towers each year in accordance with their original functions. We are working with excitement with our team. We are doing very important work regarding the revival of cultural heritage in Fatih over the last 5 years. It is also being followed with appreciation by relevant institutions and organizations. It is one of the important areas that displays Byzantine and Ottoman cultural heritage in all its glory. It has entered the city's tourism area again.”

Stating that there were conical roofs in the engravings of Yedikule Fortress, Scientific Committee Member and Senior Architect İhsan Sarı said, “We have dozens of engravings regarding Yedikule Fortress. The roofs are visible in all of these engravings. We started to conduct historical research for the roofs. We found a very similar example. It is the Bender Fortress, which was built in 1535 during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent in the north of Moldova. It had become a ruin over time. The Italians also developed a project regarding the ruined fortress. Following the project, the World Bank provided aid to the Moldovan government. The revival of the fortress was carried out. All the roofs were put on and they finished it. We also have examples in the world. We know that work has been done on the Great Wall of China to ensure visual integrity. Based on the engravings we have, we reached the stage of putting a finial on a roof made of industrial zinc with a wooden construction at the entrance of Yedikule Fortress. The roof was manufactured on the ground and lifted by cranes to be placed on the tower. Our goal is to present a cultural integrity to those who visit the monument and to show that there were roofs here instead of just photos. We have reached the finishing stage. Its finial has been prepared. Work is being done for gold leafing on the finial, just like the finial of our mosque. We estimate that both will be put in place in a very short time, before the new year.”

Stating that Yedikule Fortress has an area of approximately 16 thousand square meters, Sarı said, “It is the area with the largest green space in the historic peninsula after Sultanahmet and Gülhane Park. The length of its walls is approximately 800 meters. Its restoration is very costly and will take time. The municipality allocates a certain budget here from public resources. The restoration of the monument continues at the level of that budget. Therefore, we evaluate that it would be correct to place these roofs gradually. Of course, our comprehensive research continues. This is essentially a resource issue. If we solve the resource issue and establish our cultural infrastructure, the other roofs will also be put in their places.”