Beyazıt Tower

Hikayemiz

Beyazıt Tower, also named Seraskier Tower, from the name of the Ottoman ministry of War, is an 85m tall fire-watch tower located in the courtyard of Istanbul University's main campus (formerly Ottoman Ministry of War) on Beyazıt Square (known as the Forum Tauri in the Roman period) in Istanbul, Turkey, on top of one of the "seven hills" which Constantine the Great had built the city, following the model of Rome.Beyazıt Tower was ordered by the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II (1808-1839), and designed by Senekerim Balyan, who built it of stone in 1828 on the place of the original wooden Beyazıt Tower, which was destroyed in a fire and was constructed earlier by the architect's brother, Krikor Balyan.It is currently equipped with lighting system to indicate weather conditions in different colors. Red colour means snow, blue - nice and clear weather, green - rain and yellow - fog.HistoryThe first fire-watch tower in Beyazıt was built of timber in 1749, but it was burnt down during the 1756 Great Fire of Cibali. It was replaced by another timber tower on the same location, which was destroyed following the riots stirred by Sultan Mahmud II's decision to dissolve the Janissary Corps in 1826. The same year, another wooden tower was erected on the plot, designed and built by the palace architect Krikor Balyan, which was again set on fire by adherents of the Janissaries. Finally, the current tower, made of stone, was built in 1828 by Senekerim Balyan in Ottoman Baroque style.