TOWERS OF ISTANBUL
Most of Istanbul’s children do not realise
that Hans Andersen, whose stories have opened the doors to world
of fantasy, visited Istanbul. The Danish writer describes his first
sight of the city with a metaphor worthy of a story teller, likening
each mosque with its dome and minarets to Noah’s Ark. Istanbul
is a city of minarets, lighthouses and towers, one being Maiden’s
Tower (Kiz Kulesi) on an islet at the mouth of the Bosphorus which
serves as a lighthouse, although Hans Andersen does not tell us
about his first impression of this tower. Yet Maiden’s Tower
is the building reminiscent above all of the Ark, standing as it
does in the middle of the sea and greeting passing ships. I myself
liken it to a hair slide preventing Istanbul’s hair from impeding
shipping through the Bosphorus, and Istanbul to a mother rocking
her child to sleep on a suspension bridge, in which case Maiden’s
Tower becomes a baby’s bottle placed in water to cool the
milk.The nearest towers to Maiden’s Tower are those of Selimiye
Barracks, which looks like an upside down billiard table.
These towers have never guided ships at sea; instead
their light is that of Florence Nightingale, who reformed the British
hospital here during the Crimean War, and revolutionised the nursing
profession.
The Lady of the Lamp hurried from one tower of the
barracks to another, relieving the suffering of the wounded. Visitors
who arrive in Istanbul by sea usually unknowingly pass by another
tower associated with caring for the sick: the Physician’s
Tower at Topkapi Palace.In the past ships sailing out into the Marmara
Sea would stop off the tiny island of Sivriada and the captain would
look not ahead, but back at Selimiye Barracks, in order to line
up the flagpole in the stern with the towers of Selimiye and the
summit of Çamlica Hill. The rudder would then be turned in
this direction, and if the ship kept on a straight course it would
eventually find itself entering the mouth of Çanakkale Strait,
which leads out of the Marmara into the Aegean. So the towers of
Selimiye Barracks were like a signpost for mariners. Another signpost
is Galata Tower.
On traffic signs a white arrow on a blue ground
indicates a one-way street, and Galata Tower is like an arrow pointing
up into the sky. The 17th century scholar Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi
was the first person to realise what the tower meant, and making
himself a pair of wings leapt off the parapet of the tower and glided
to a safe landing on the far shore of the Bosphorus.
In one of his poems, painter and poet Bedri Rahmi
Eyuboglu acts as matchmaker for the Maiden’s and Galata towers,
declaring that if the Maiden’s Tower had any sense it would
marry the Galata Tower and bear a brood of children! However, shortly
after Eyuboglu took up this matter in his poem, he proposed that
the Galata Tower take a European bride, the Eiffel Tower. This second
match took place, and the Galata Tower and Eiffel Tower gave birth
to the cluster of radio transmittors on Çamlica Hill, which
are as shapely as their mother and as tall as their father!Beyazit
Tower is the world’s largest monument to peace. Yes, you have
not misheard me, so let me explain.
The tower was designed by the architect Senekerim
Balyan as a fire tower, where lookouts kept watch over Istanbul
night and day and signalled to the fire brigade when they saw flames.
Balyan was inspired by the shape of Ottoman cannon,
and built a tower that exactly resembled one. Since a weapon turned
vertically upwards is a sign of surrender, the tower can be regarded
as the largest and perhaps the first monument to peace ever built!
The towers of Kuleli Military High School are like two brothers
holding hands and wearing conical caps made of newspaper to protect
them from the sun who have gone down to the Bosphorus shore to catch
fish. Haydarpasa Station, on the other hand, is Istanbul’s
tower gate into Anatolia. Many people arriving from the provinces
to Istanbul for the first time by train have first seen the sea,
seagulls, and smoking ferry funnels from this gate between its two
towers.
Sultan Abdülhamid II built clock towers in
many towns around Turkey, and Istanbul got its full share with three;
the Dolmabahçe, Yildiz and Tophane clock towers. However,
since these are not situated in busy parts of the city, it is rare
to find anyone arranging to meet beneath them. Still these towers
are important when it comes to telling the time in Istanbul. Indeed,
you can work out the time without even looking at the dials. How?
By looking at the shadows the towers throw.
Then there are the church towers, which in the company
of minarets reach into the sky like compass points to draw a world
of friendship and brotherhood. In class pupils raise their hands
to ask permission to speak, and a city with towers must have something
to say too. So listen to Istanbul and hear the stories it has to
tell.
By Sunay AKIN
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