Mankind has always longed to fly like a bird and the first human to try it successfully was an Ottoman Turk.
In the 17C, during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Murat IV, Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi, a scholar whose first name means "a thousand sciences", managed to fly by wearing rush-work wings, from the top of the Galata Tower to Üsküdar, an Asian settlement opposite and across the Bosphorus. An excited crowd including the sultan watched him achieve this feat.
Sultan Murat admired Hezarfen but he was also afraid that his unusual ability would win him excessive power. The sultan gave him a purse of gold and declared: "This man is one to be feared. He can do anything he wishes. The presence of such men is not auspicious." Hezarfen was then exiled to Algeria where he died broken hearted far away from home.
The tower was built by the Genoese colony as part of their town defense fortifications in the 14C. In Genoese sources it was named as Christea Turris (Tower of Christ).
It was altered considerably, particularly by upper parts being added under the Ottomans during the course of the centuries. It was used at different times as a prison and a fire-watch tower. In 1967, the tower was restored and an elevator was added. The present height of the tower is 63 m / 206 ft. Today two top floors serve as a restaurant with folkloric shows. During the daytime it is open to visitors for panoramic views of the region.
You can get images from the Galata Tower and many other images from Istanbul at my Istanbul Images Gallery
